Come and support your colleague in the Falling Walls Lab competition!
The Czech National Final of the Falling Walls Lab competition was also attended by a representative of The International Clinical Research Center of St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno (FNUSA-ICRC). With her Heart-on-a-Chip project, succeded Ece Ergir, a doctoral student from the Cardiovascular System – Mechanobiology team.
“I started from the fact that cardiovascular diseases are still the leading cause of death worldwide. The human heart is very complex and expensive tissue for in vitro modeling, and monolayer culture or animal models may not accurately reflect the physiological complexity of the human heart,” explains Ece Ergir. “My idea is a miniaturized human mini-heart “Heart-on-a-Chip”. We develop small 3D cardiac organoids reprogrammed from donor stem cells (iPSCs) and implement them into organ-on-a-chip technologies that provide a more dynamic and natural microenvironment. Organoids beat themselves, more closely resemble human heart tissue, and organoids from different individuals can respond differently to drugs. The chips can also be coupled together to allow high performance screening. We therefore offer miniaturized, physiologically relevant, cost-effective and ethical tissue models for personalized medicine.”
Ece will have to present the project in three minutes and, above all, attract the jury enough to be selected for the world finals in Berlin. And in that we can help her – come and support your colleague in VIDA! Center 2. 10. – entry is for free, only registration is required.
Falling Walls Lab is an international format designed to introduce the next generation of great scientists and innovators. The competition was created and annually organized by the Berlin Falling Walls Foundation. Talented and innovative thinkers present their science projects, business plans or social initiatives to an interdisciplinary audience and jury during three-minute speeches. The Czech national round of Falling Walls Lab is organized by CEITEC and the winner will take part in the world final, where the Czech Republic won the Audience Award last year.
