A Modular Microfluidic Organoid Platform Using LEGO-Like Bricks.

The convergence of organoid and organ-on-a-chip (OoC) technologies is urgently needed to overcome limitations of current 3D in vitro models. However, integrating organoids in standard OoCs faces several technical challenges, as it is typically laborious, lacks flexibility, and often results in even more complex and less-efficient cell culture protocols. Therefore, specifically adapted and more flexible microfluidic platforms need to be developed to facilitate the incorporation of complex 3D in vitro models.

Investigation of the effects of phthalates on thyroid models with RNA-Seq and ATAC-Seq.

Introduction: Phthalates are a class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been shown to negatively correlate with thyroid hormone serum levels in humans and to cause a state of hyperactivity in the thyroid. However, their mechanism of action is not well described at the molecular level.

Methods: We analyzed the response of mouse thyroid organoids to the exposure to a biologically relevant dose range of the phthalates bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-iso-decylphthalate (DIDP), di-iso-nonylphthalate (DINP), and di-n-octylphthalate (DnOP) for 24 h and simultaneously analyzed mRNA and miRNA expression via RNA sequencing.

Thyroid-on-a-Chip: An Organoid Platform for In Vitro Assessment of Endocrine Disruption.

Thyroid is a glandular tissue in the human body in which the function can be severely affected by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Current in vitro assays to test endocrine disruption by chemical compounds are largely based on 2D thyroid cell cultures, which often fail to precisely evaluate the safety of these compounds. New and more advanced 3D cell culture systems are urgently needed to better recapitulate the thyroid follicular architecture and functions and help to improve the predictive power of such assays.

CODA: a combo-Seq data analysis workflow.

The analysis of the combined mRNA and miRNA content of a biological sample can be of interest for answering several research questions, like biomarkers discovery, or mRNA-miRNA interactions. However, the process is costly and time-consuming, separate libraries need to be prepared and sequenced on different flowcells. Combo-Seq is a library prep kit that allows us to prepare combined mRNA-miRNA libraries starting from very low total RNA.