AI Summary
5 min readGrowing Mini Retinas To Fight Blindness
In a lab at the Children's Medical Research Institute in Westmead, Australia, Dr. Anai Gonzalez-Cordero grows miniature human retinas in dishes. These organoids—each about half a millimeter across—contain the same cell types found in a real retina, including the light-sensitive photoreceptors that capture photons and begin the process of vision. The goal is not just to study how the retina develops, but to use these lab-grown tissues to develop treatments for inherited blinding diseases that have been notoriously difficult to model in animals.
From a single cell to an organ in a dish
The starting material is a pluripotent stem cell—a cell that can become any cell type in the body. In early embryonic development, these cells exist in the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, a hollow ball of cells that forms around day five to seven after fertilization. Scientists learned to isolate these cells and grow them indefinitely in culture, keeping them in an undifferentiated state where they retain their potential.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of Karl
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Introduction and a Bold Claim** - Host Karl introduces the idea of growing replacement body parts, specifically retinas, using stem cells instead of mechanical implants.
- 2 (01:00) **Two Therapeutic Approaches: Cell Transplant vs. Gene Therapy** - The guest clarifies that her lab uses two distinct strategies to treat eye diseases.
- 3 (02:10) **From Developmental Biology to Stem Cells** - Dr. Gonzalez-Cordero explains her background and the fundamental concept of stem cells.
- 4 (04:40) **The Hierarchy of Stem Cells: Pluripotent, Multipotent, Unipotent** - The guest details the different levels of stem cell specialization.
- 5 (09:01) **What Are Organoids? Mini-Organs in a Dish** - The guest explains how three-dimensional cell cultures create miniaturized, functional organ models.
- 6 (14:08) **Organoid Size and Limitations** - Karl and the guest discuss the current scale and future goals of organoid technology.
- 7 (15:05) **Target Diseases: Stargardt and Usher** - The conversation focuses on two specific inherited retinal diseases the lab is studying.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Associate Professor Anai Gonzalez-Cordero joins us on Shirtloads to explore the remarkable world of stem cells and how they can develop into almost any cell in the human body! She explains how her team is using stem cell technology to better understand and develop potential treatments for inherited retinal diseases, including Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome. We also discuss her work at the Children's Medical Research Institute and the importance of supporting genetic research through Jeans for Genes Day (coming up on the 7th of August!)
If you'd like to help fund life-changing genetic research, consider making a donation this Jeans for Genes Day
www.cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/
More from this podcast
Karl →