On the 8th and 9th of July, the workshop on 3D cell culture models was being held at the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Fribourg, Switzerland. We were very pleased to welcome 17 participants coming from all over Europe, having various backgrounds and expertise working in both an academic or industrial setting.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser started the workshop on Monday morning presenting an overview on the background of advanced 3D cell culture models and their applications. Then results related to modelling lung tissues and several exposure techniques for workshop participants presented these models. The last theoretical part included a presentation on skin tissues given by Dr. Helena Kandarova, who shared the past and present studies on skin models and her vision for the future of skin models. Dr. Davide Confalonieri presented a skin model based on using a system from LonzaPharma and Biotech, which was later demonstrated in the lab.
In the practical part, the participants were offered four different laboratory modules, where they received a demonstration of the co-culturing techniques, including hands-on training. The four modules were I) cultivation of skin, II) lung and intestine tissues, III) monocyte isolation from human peripheral blood and IV) a demonstration of nanomaterial aerosolization techniques within different air-liquid interface exposure devices. In addition, the participants were introduced to life cell imaging as a possible tool in combination with Vybrant dyes to detect the single cell types within a co-culture.
To conclude, we had a great event and received positive feedback about the workshop. Our participants were eager to learn and showed a high motivation to discuss their research, which resulted in a friendly and open atmosphere during the workshop.
