Acquisition of an automated robotic culture system for organoid generation, maintenance, and phenotyping

PROJECT SUMMARY
The combination of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) technology with 3D organoid culture methods
provides the opportunity to study human biology at an unprecedented level. However, despite the exciting
potential for these 3D in vitro platforms organoids to model human disease, significant challenges have halted
their broad utility. Specifically, the high variability, lack of standardization across protocols, and cost of the
reagents for long-term culture have made it difficult for new labs to implement these new technologies, as well
as compare and integrate results across labs. To address these challenges, we previously established the Organoid
Hub at Emory University, a unique state-of-art initiative with the overarching goal of innovating, streamlining,
and advancing the procedures for maintaining, differentiating, and utilizing hiPSCs and organoids through three
main principles: standardization, scalability, and accessibility. This Organoid hub is staffed by highly trained
personnel dedicated to optimizing and standardizing iPSC-derived organoid cultures.
Here, we propose the acquisition of a Molecular Devices CellXpress.ai automated organoid cell culture system
and its integration with the Organoid Hub. Automating organoid culture will significantly enhance the Organoid
Hub's capabilities, enabling high-throughput and standardized production of various organoid types, including
brain, gut, cardiac, and kidney organoids. This technology will reduce hands-on time, minimize human error,
and ensure consistent and reproducible results across experiments. Furthermore, it will lower the financial and
labor barriers for researchers, promoting wider adoption of advanced 3D culture methods. The integration of the
CellXpress.ai system into the Organoid Hub will also foster collaboration and innovation within and beyond the
Emory community. By offering a fee-for-use service, the Hub will provide researchers access to cutting-edge
automated organoid culture, facilitating groundbreaking research in human cellular biology and disease
modeling. This proposal highlights the critical need for this advanced system to enhance reproducibility and
standardization, and expand the scientific reach of the Organoid Hub, ultimately advancing our understanding
of human biology and disease.

Grant Number: 1S10OD038233-01
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Fikri Birey