Funded for the year 2024/25

Collaboration between the groups Persist and  Tuberculose (Dr. Oana Dumitrescu)

The respiratory tract is a complex organ system divided into the upper respiratory tract, that includes the nasal cavity, pharynx and larynx, and the lower respiratory tract comprising the conducting airways (trachea, bronchi and bronchioles) and the respiratory zone (respiratory bronchioles and alveoli). While research on respiratory pathogen has largely focused on the respiratory zone, the conducting airways and notably the bronchi, has remained less studied. Here, we aim at (i) establishing at the Ciri a robust human bronchi tissue model and (ii), using this organoid, to perform high-content single-cell analysis of the infection process.

Immunofluorescence staining of human bronchial organoids TP63 (basal cells), SCGB1A1 (club cells), FOXJ1 (ciliated cells) and MUC5AC (goblet cells). After Chan et al., Nature communications 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35253-x