Q&A with Dr. Aaron Gardner

[joachim]

Question about 3D printing:

There are currently 2 or 3 serious companys working on 3D printed organs with some good breakthroughs already. However, it's still much work to do for creating complete working livers, kidneys including blood vessels etc.
blood vessel printing with the help of some special support material just achieved the first success some weeks ago.

But let's mention one company specialized to cell-by-cell 3D printing:
http://www.organovo.com/

They are really able to print a bunch of different cells in an exact 3D shape using Hydrogel as support material for the cells. Printing cell by cell, accurate and reliable.

so when the key in follicle formation and achieving 100% gene expression is to guide the cells in a way that they mimic the natural form of a follicle to enable the different cells interacting with each other, then why not use Organovo's 3D printer to print all the required cells (DP, epithelial, dermal sheath cup, ...) in the exact shape of a follicle? The process probably only takes a few minutes per follicle, and after that they can interact and bind together (takes some hours probably). The hydrogel dissolves after sometime, I think. At least as proof-of-concept this should really be looked into in detail. Organovo would of course be interested to give their printer the chance to try this out. This could be tested within a few months to have proof-of-concept.

When the 3D printing process turns out to be successful then the printer just have to be extended by multiple nozzles and chambers (reservoires) for the different cells to allow printing of multiple follicles simultaneously.
but first, the proof of concept is important!

And we always hear that the right 3D culturing technique is important (hanging drops, PVA tubes, Matrigel culturing, etc.) but the 3D printer is the easiest way to make a perfectly shaped follicle with different cell types, and the technology is already available.

Maybe the biochip from Team Lauster can be combined with it: first, 3D print the cells, then supply the dishes with further nutrients and proteins so that they have the right signaling to develop a hair.

What do you think? do we have a real chance with 3D printing or is it simply infeasible and we should all forget about 3D printing follicles?
If it's infeasible, what's the reason for it? Has anyone of the hair researches tried it out ever?

[Arashi]

Thanks Arashi.

Can you (or anyone else) explain how the 3D environment looks like, or what it involves? I'm having a hard time envisioning it.

Could be as simple as:



That's from Jahoda.

He decided, instead of growing the papilla cells in the regular petri dish method, he would put droplets of the cells on a dish and flip it over so they were hanging upside down.

Also look here (including pics) https://3dbiomatrix.com/features/

[joachim]

here's a video of Organovo's 3D printing process which can also be found on their website, just to get an idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3CiJ26YS_U

[nameless]

* Aaron, thank you for coming here and talking to us.

* Are you saying that when you do manage to encapsulate DP spheres with epithelial cells you get total (100%) preservation of hair inductivity despite mass pass culture?

* I think you're saying is that the problem is getting the epithelial cells to stick to the DP cells. I gather that you're saying that sometimes the epithelial cells do stick to the DP cells but other times they don't. Since sometimes the epithelial cells do stick to the DP cells I'm wondering why you can't simply isolate the method that results in the epithelial cells sticking to the DP cells and only use that method? In other words, since you are able to make the epithelial cells stick to DP cells sometimes then just use the method that results in the epithelial cells sticking to the DP cells and the problem is solved, right?

* When you do get the epithelial cells to stick to the DP cells what do you differently from when epithelial cells don't stick to the DP cells?

* What are you going to try to do to get the epithelial cells to stick to the DP cells? Do you have any ideas?

[joachim]

another scientific question:

how many cells are required to form a follicle? are we talking about hundrets, thousands, millions, or billions?

[hellouser]

Could be as simple as:



That's from Jahoda.


Also look here (including pics) https://3dbiomatrix.com/features/

Thanks, this helps. So I guess the difference between 2D and 3D is the difference between cells laying flat and only next to eachother vs. hanging around with cells 'orbiting' around eachother in every direction?

[joachim]

a general question:

Are you, Dr. Gardner, and Jahoda fully aware of the other researchers work?
Do you even exchange information with Tsuji Labs, Team Lauster, or others on a regular basis?
Or is there too much competitive thinking?

[joachim]

another question:

Has anyone of the researchers around the world ever created a cosmetically acceptable lab-grown copy of a follicle which is sprouting hair now on someone's head (a real human)? maybe by chance, and maybe not consistently, but did it ever happen?

[sdsurfin]

This:

"A:
I'm not sure. The majority of studies use epithelial cells that are very receptive to follicle induction i.e. mouse or human neonatal epithelial cells. We are attempting to use adult human only cells, but this is "healthy" tissue. As far as I know there are no groups using alopecia scalp tissue to test for inductivity. Speculating, I would assume if an inductive enough construct was created that the initial follicle would form. However, as this isn't treating the underlying causes of the various alopecias I would assume the follicle would then degrade as the previously, perhaps even at a faster rate due to the loss of fatty tissue in the scalp."

We're in it for the long haul boys. Especially if the roots of baldness do not lie with instructions given by the hair follicle cells. If it's the rest of the body dictating what hair is lost then it's going to require a replacement of your entire scalp to cure this thing. which I suppose is possible too with tissue engineering, but we're looking at many decades and very invasive procedures. you would probably have to not only get all new follicles, but also remove all the old ones that are signalling your scalp to degrade.

[joachim]

what is known about the trials in Taiwan with over 400 people, which should start soon? What kind of team is it? Why are they starting trials soon, if there are still some missing puzzles? What company is behind it, and what else do we know about them?

I mean, to start a trial with 400 people requires some confidence.
They are hopefully not going to just randomly inject some cells into bald people and see what happens then.

Are you aware of what's going on in Taiwan?