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Human organotypic colon in vitro microtissue: unveiling a new window into colonic drug disposition Pedro G.M. Canhão, Jan Snoeys, Suzy Geerinckx, Marjolein van Heerden, An Van den Bergh, Camden Holm, Jan Markus, Seyoum Ayehunie, Mario Monshouwer, Raymond Evers, Patrick Augustijns, Stephanie Kourula Published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences   Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate ...

Two weeks ago, on February 12th, Pedro Canhão Costa stepped onto the stage at WORD+ 2025, launching his TED-style talk with this opener: “Let’s start with a simple question—perhaps one of the oldest we ask: Why? Why should we pay attention to the colon? Did you know that about 1 in 5 people will face a cancer diagnosis in their ...

A significant academic milestone was achieved on the 6th of November, 2024 as Alessia, a COLOTAN doctoral candidate at University College London , successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “Interactions between medicines and the human gut microbiome”. The defense marked the culmination of years of hard work and research in the field of gut microbiota. Here’s Alessia on her proud ...

On July 22nd, Ines Parente (ESR13 of the EU H2020 MSCA ITN COLOTAN) performed the defence of her doctoral thesis entitled “Colonoids and cytokines: an in vitro model of drug absorption in the inflamed gut”: she presented her project to prof. Barocelli, prof. Fornai and prof. Colucci, members of the committtee, who had the possibility to appreciate her progresses during the ...

Exploring the potential of human intestinal organoids: Applications, challenges, and future direction Inês A. Parente, Linda Chiara, Simona Bertoni Published in Life Sciences Abstract The complex and dynamic environment of the gastrointestinal tract shapes one of the fastest renewing tissues in the human body, the intestinal epithelium. Considering the lack of human preclinical studies, reliable models that mimic the intestinal ...

Characterization of luminal contents from the fasted human proximal colon S. Steigert, J. Brouwers, K. Verbeke, T. Vanuytsel, P. Augustijns In the EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES Abstract To treat colonic diseases more effectively, improved therapies are urgently needed. In this respect, delivering drugs locally to the colon is a key strategy to achieve higher local drug concentrations while minimizing ...

Alessia is delighted to have won the best lecture (runner-up) award at the SoP Research Day and expresses that the best part was sharing the achievement with her great friend Nidhi Seegobin: “There is never a moment when we stop encouraging each other to aim for the best in ourselves and our work, and this was another wonderful proof of ...

What an incredible experience it was for Alessia Favaron (COLOTAN ESR9) to develop her business idea in “Explore your Entrepreneurial Idea” program at UCL! She won 2nd place with her HerBioma venture, dedicated to balancing women’s hormonal health with microbiome science. Congratulations to Nidhi Seegobin who was a finalist in the program, and Ieva Karvelyte who won 3rd place!  

Development of a canine artificial colonic mucus model for drug diffusion studies V. Barmpatsalou, M. Tjakra, L. Li, I.R. Dubbelboer, E. Karlsson, B. Pedersen Lomstein, C.A.S. Bergström Abstract Colonic mucus is a key factor in the colonic environment because it may affect drug absorption. Due to the similarity of human and canine gastrointestinal physiology, dogs are an established preclinical species ...

Solidification and oral delivery of biologics to the colon – A review by COLOTAN researcher Katharina Kopp with the supervision of Lien Saerens (Eurofins), Jody Voorspoels (Eurofins) and Guy Van den Mooter (KU Leuven) that has been published recently in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Abstract The oral delivery of biologics such as therapeutic proteins, peptides and oligonucleotides for ...