Nanoblades allow high-level genome editing in murine and human organoids.

Genome engineering has become more accessible thanks to the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system. However, using this technology in synthetic organs called "organoids" is still very inefficient. This is due to the delivery methods for the CRISPR-Cas9 machinery, which include electroporation of CRISPR-Cas9 DNA, mRNA, or ribonucleoproteins containing the Cas9-gRNA complex.

SERS Endoscopy for Monitoring Intracellular Drug Dynamics.

Understanding the dynamics and distribution of medicinal drugs in living cells is essential for the design and discovery of treatments. The tools available for revealing this information are, however, extremely limited. Here, we report the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) endoscopy, using plasmonic nanowires as SERS probes, to monitor the intracellular fate and dynamics of a common chemo-drug, doxorubicin, in A549 cancer cells.

Label-Free Identification of Carbonaceous Particles Using Nonlinear Optical Microscopy.

The adverse health effects of ambient carbonaceous particles (CPs) such as carbon black (CB), black carbon (BC), and brown carbon (BrC) are becoming more evident and depend on their composition and emission source. Therefore, identifying and quantifying these particles in biological samples are important to better understand their toxicity. Here, we report the development of a nonlinear optical approach for the identification of CPs such as CB and BrC using imaging conditions compatible with biomedical samples.

Fluorescence Imaging of 3D Cell Models with Subcellular Resolution.

Over the past years, research has made impressive breakthroughs towards the development and implementation of 3D cell models for a wide range of applications, such as drug development and testing, organogenesis, cancer biology, and personalized medicine. Opposed to 2D cell monolayer culture systems, advanced 3D cell models better represent the physiology. However, for these models to deliver scientific insights, appropriate investigation techniques are required.

Versatile and Robust Method for Antibody Conjugation to Nanoparticles with High Targeting Efficiency.

The application of antibodies in nanomedicine is now standard practice in research since it represents an innovative approach to deliver chemotherapy agents selectively to tumors. The variety of targets or markers that are overexpressed in different types of cancers results in a high demand for antibody conjugated-nanoparticles, which are versatile and easily customizable. Considering up-scaling, the synthesis of antibody-conjugated nanoparticles should be simple and highly reproducible.

From 2D to 3D Cancer Cell Models-The Enigmas of Drug Delivery Research.

Over the past decades, research has made impressive breakthroughs towards drug delivery systems, resulting in a wide range of multifunctional engineered nanoparticles with biomedical applications such as cancer therapy. Despite these significant advances, well-designed nanoparticles rarely reach the clinical stage. Promising results obtained in standard 2D cell culture systems often turn into disappointing outcomes in in vivo models.

Patient-derived organoids from endometrial disease capture clinical heterogeneity and are amenable to drug screening.

Endometrial disorders represent a major gynaecological burden. Current research models fail to recapitulate the nature and heterogeneity of these diseases, thereby hampering scientific and clinical progress. Here we developed long-term expandable organoids from a broad spectrum of endometrial pathologies.

Polymeric Engineering of Nanoparticles for Highly Efficient Multifunctional Drug Delivery Systems.

Most targeting strategies of anticancer drug delivery systems (DDSs) rely on the surface functionalization of nanocarriers with specific ligands, which trigger the internalization in cancer cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis. The endocytosis implies the entrapment of DDSs in acidic vesicles (endosomes and lysosomes) and their eventual ejection by exocytosis. This process, intrinsic to eukaryotic cells, is one of the main drawbacks of DDSs because it reduces the drug bioavailability in the intracellular environment.

Organoids from pituitary as a novel research model toward pituitary stem cell exploration.

The pituitary is the master endocrine gland, harboring stem cells of which the phenotype and role remain poorly characterized. Here, we established organoids from mouse pituitary with the aim to generate a novel research model to study pituitary stem cell biology. The organoids originated from the pituitary cells expressing the stem cell marker SOX2 were long-term expandable, displayed a stemness phenotype during expansive culture and showed specific hormonal differentiation ability, although limited, after subrenal transplantation.