I am an undergraduate student studying Biochemistry at Imperial College London. This year I have had the amazing opportunity to undertake a year in industry at AstraZeneca in Cambridge. After finishing my undergraduate degree at Imperial, I hope to undertake a PhD. Attending this forum would be an invaluable experience, allowing me to gain experience in presenting my findings and network with both other young scientists and experts in the field. I am passionate about my research on GlomSpheres, a scalable in vitro model of glomerular disease, and am eager to share my findings with other scientists as there is a huge need for reliable, reproducible disease models. GlomSpheres also have the potential to reduce demand for in vivo models early in the drug development process.
Through participating in this forum, I hope to engage in discussion and exchange ideas with other scientists, as well as gain more diverse perspectives in order to improve my problem-solving skills and help me prepare for my future as a PhD student. The collaborative interdisciplinary environment of the forum will encourage me to think outside of the box and help me better address complex challenges in my research in in vitro disease models.

Imperial College London

AstraZeneca

GlomSpheres are a scalable in vitro spheroid model of glomerular diseases. GlomSpheres incorporate both glomerular endothelial cells and podocytes so are able to replicate the crosstalk environment experienced by cells in the glomerulus. The cells are able to deposit an organised 3D extracellular matrix similar to the glomerular basement membrane. GlomSphere culture also upregulates expression of key glomerular endothelial cell and podocyte markers, improving issues with phenotypic drift after these cells are grown in 2D monoculture.
My research with Dr. Jack Tuffin aims to characterise the response of GlomSpheres to disease relevant challenges including transforming growth factor beta, endothelin-1, angiotensin and puromycin aminonucleoside. Later the spheroids will be treated with plasma samples from patients with a range of renal diseases. Phenotypes observed when GlomSpheres are cultured with plasma will be compared to the artificial challenges that can be used for routine project work. This will validate the model as translatable to human diseases and build a library of representative in vitro glomerular disease models that can be used in future for design and screening of drugs.