Development of 3D-printed cardiac organoids for -omics applied to personalized medicine

Our project, made possible with matched funding from Michael Smith Health Research BC, has been funded by Genome Canada’s Canadian Biotechnology Innovation and Commercialization program. This is a BC-based project, in collaboration with Axolotl Biosciences of Victoria. Axolotl is a start-up specializing in producing bioinks for 3D-bioprinting of stem cell-based tissues for applications in disease modeling. In this project, we will develop a bioink meant for stem cell-based heart tissues, to allow us to study heart diseases.

In the Laksman lab, we use personalized stem cells to produce heart tissues for in vitro studies. These stem cells are often from individuals with heart rhythm diseases such as atrial fibrillation, and who may have genetic variants of interest. Using our custom-engineered imaging system, we can measure several properties of the heart tissues at the same time – including both electrical and physical properties of the tissue. The ability to 3D-print heart tissues using a novel bioink will increase the speed and consistency of our studies, and enable high-throughput applications such as drug screening.

To carry out this work, we will use our multi-parameter imaging system in combination with studies of gene expression, and we will identify bioink formulations that produce 3D tissues that more closely resemble adult human hearts than current heart tissue models. This will have potential value in both drug discovery and drug toxicity assays. Ultimately, this project will allow us to identify therapies for patients.