The development of complex in vitro models, such as organoids, gastruloids and organ-on-chips systems, will allow the better understanding of human biological processes that are otherwise difficult to address with classical in vitro 2D culture and/or with animal models. Elucidating how pathogens, such as the SARS-CoV-2, invade human cells by evading the immune system and how this could be modulated by the host microbiota has been greatly facilitated by the advancement of 3D cell culture techniques. For example, mimicking the gut peristalsis in gut-on-a-chip device improves the maturation of colon epithelial cells and aid to unveil the role of mechanical stress in accelerating enteropathogen invasion. Our lab is working on establishing unique advanced microphysiological systems that can mimic the interaction between human epithelial barriers with the surrounding tissues, such as blood vessels, mesenchyme and immune cells. My scientific project is focused on the establishment of lung-on-chip devices that cover the entire respiratory tract (from the nasopharynx to the alveoli) as a platform to understand airborne infections and tropism of respiratory viruses. There we relay both on the use of lung multipotent stem cells grown as organoids, in order to produce the different cell population of the respiratory tract, and on microfluidic chips.

Paris Post-docs seminar series.