Urinary Tract Infections are pathologies of the bladder, affecting more than 150 million people every year. Low understanding has led to a global misuse of antibiotics that drives bacterial resistance, which now the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers at crisis level. Apical-out spheroids model the architecture of the bladder representing a powerful tool for UTI-modelling and drug screening.
Impact
Apical-out spheroids have implications for disease modelling and drug screening, as positioning lumen facing cells externally allows correct exposure to infection models and pharmaceutical agents. For high throughput preclinical testing aimed at development of strategies to limit UTI prevalence and test personalised treatments, their potential as patient-specific disease models is unparalleled.
reNEW research
In the Aragona group we have developed apical-out bladder spheroids, with an external lumen for correct exposure to infection models and subsequent pharmaceutical treatments, mimicking the accessibility of the native bladder. High-throughput fluorescent microscopy at reNEW will allow for real time phenotypic imaging of spheroids exposed to uropathogens and small molecule libraries.
Image description
Immunofluorescence of apical-out bladder spheroid differentiated from stem cells.
Credits
Dr Mike Magnussen, Aragona group, reNEW Copenhagen