PASTEUR2030
Organoid technology: challenges and possibilities – a look back at Translational Science Day on January 26 and spotlight on the HITOC project, selected in the PEPR-MED-OOC program
• A dedicated day to explore organoid models
On January 26, Samy Gobaa, Kenneth McElreavey, Miria Ricchetti and Chiara Zurzolo, in collaboration with the Medical Department, held the latest edition of the annual Translational Science Day, on the topic "Organoids, from stem cells to disease modeling." The event was attended by leading scientists and clinicians in the field of biomedical research, who came together to discuss various aspects of organoids that are directly related to the scientific priorities in the Pasteur 2030 Strategic Plan.
The event was divided into four sessions based on four broad themes:
Organoid systems modeling human interfaces and the developing brain, with Chiara Zurzolo, Karl Koehler, R. Iwata et Alexandre Baffet
Organoids for the entire life span, from development to aging, with Kenneth McElreavey, Alain Chedotal, Miria Ricchetti, Shahragim Tajbakhsh et Han Li
Organoids for modeling diseases, with Samy Gobaa, Anne Grapin-Botton, Danijela Matic-Vignyevic, Marc Lecuit et Nathalie Sauvonnet
Organoid models of human biology and ethical frontiers, with Miria Ricchetti, Anu Bashamboo, Lisa Chakrabarti et Denis Duboule.
The event particularly resonated with the Institut Pasteur's ongoing ambition to enhance, diversify and facilitate access to its technological environment.
Organoid-based models are an integral part of the Institut Pasteur's technological facilities, offering a new in vitro method for studying biological interactions and disease mechanisms, both three-dimensionally and incorporating several cell types. They meet a growing need for more research on barrier tissues such as the gut, lungs and skin, which are particularly exposed to infections, inflammatory diseases and cancer. Organoid systems could also offer a way of examining key organs that are hard to access with biopsies, such as the gonads and the brain.
On the Institut Pasteur campus, several research strands involving the use of organoids are being developed in cooperation with partners such as the Imagine Institute and Institut Necker-Enfants Malades (INEM), drawing on the benefits of collaborative science.
• HITOC, a project selected in the PEPR MED-OOC program: developing a segmented, neurocompetent gut model using organ-on-chip technology
The aim of the Organs- and Organoids-on-Chips exploratory research program (PEPR MED-OOC), part of the broader France 2030 plan, is to promote a new generation of biological models in France based on the development of organs- and organoids-on-chips (O&OoCs). The French government has tasked the CEA, CNRS and Inserm with leading the program. MED-OOC is funded by France 2030 over a six-year period, with a budget of €48.4 million operated by the ANR.
The MED-OOC call for proposals was launched in March 2025 to support projects developed by consortia with the necessary combined expertise and synergies to achieve results, offering funding of between €1 million and €2.5 million over a period of three to four years.
Thirteen proposals were selected and announced in January, including the projet HITOC, pin which the Institut Pasteur is a partner. The consortium is aiming to develop a segmented, neurocompetent OoC model derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to study infectious gut diseases. It is led by Nathalie Sauvonnet, head of the Tissue Homeostasis group in the Biomaterials and Microfluidics core facility led by Samy Gobaa.
"Our HITOC project aims to address a major limitation in current in vitro models of the human gut: the lack of physiologically segmented systems incorporating a functional enteric nervous system (ENS) that are capable of reproducing the structural, functional and electrophysiological complexity of the digestive tract. By bridging organoid self-organization with microfabrication and functional analysis, HITOC sets a new benchmark for on-chip human intestinal models and will serve as a foundational tool for studying infections, host-microbiota interactions and neurogastrointestinal disorders in a fully human, preclinical context."
Nathalie Sauvonnet