Mina Gouti

Mina Gouti awarded ERC Consolidator Grant

The European Research Council (ERC) awarded Dr. Mina Gouti a €2.8 million Consolidator Grant to further develop miniature neuromuscular organoids for studying neuromuscular development and diseases. It was the second honor in as many weeks; she was also named an EMBO Young Investigator for her work.

The motor neurons controlling arms, legs and other skeletal muscles come from distinct sections of the spinal cord. Organoids – miniature, organ-like structures grown in the lab – representing each segment aim to reveal regional differences in degenerative diseases and identify potential treatments for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

With this grant, we have a great opportunity now to realize our ideas, take our organoid model to the next level, and prove that the model is useful for identifying novel therapies.
Mina Gouti
Mina Gouti Head of the Lab "Stem Cell Modeling of Development and Disease"

“With this grant, we have a great opportunity now to realize our ideas, take our organoid model to the next level, and prove that the model is useful for identifying novel therapies,” says Gouti, who leads the Stem Cell Modeling of Development and Disease Lab at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC).

ERC Consolidator Grants are awarded to “outstanding researchers of any nationality and age, with at least seven and up to twelve years of experience after PhD, and a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal.” Research must be conducted in a public or private research organization in a European Union Member State or associated country.

GPS organoids

Gouti and her colleagues recently developed very advanced neuromuscular organoids that contain all critical cell types involved in the formation of functional neuromuscular junctions. The result is the organoid’s motor neurons instruct its mini-muscles to contract like in the human body. Those organoids, reported in Cell Stem Cell in early 2020, resemble the lower part of the spinal cord communicating with leg muscles.

A section through a whole human neuromuscular organoid where spinal cord neurons (red) innervate the skeletal muscle cells (green). All cell nuclei are stained in white colour.

Now, with the ERC support, her lab will work on “Generation of Position Specific (GPS) organoids” – developing organoids that represent the middle and upper sections of the spinal column. Having position-specific organoids is important because motor neurons that control different muscle groups are located in distinct regions of the spinal cord. In SMA and ALS, motor neurons innervating limbs, located in the upper and lower sections of the spinal cord, are usually affected first, while motor neurons from the middle section are affected later. The organoids will enable the researchers to explore in detail what influences these differences, and the sequence of events leading to disease before the onset of symptoms.

“Studying these diseases has so far been extremely difficult due to the limited availability of reliable human in vitro models that take into account the position of the motor neurons and the interaction with the skeletal muscles,” Gouti says.

Drug screening

The grant also specifically funds a high-content imaging system, which is a confocal microscope that can analyze multiple organoids in one go. The system will help the team screen how organoids generated from SMA patient cells react to different drugs. The researchers can help validate newly established treatments, investigate the best time to begin treatment to prevent motor neuron death, and potentially identify novel therapies.

Since the organoids are generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells, they provide an excellent opportunity to screen drugs in the target tissue. “I hope the organoid model can be a bridge between preclinical and clinical trials,” Gouti says. “It’s as close to a human as you can get.”

The whole system

The next phase of research will also include fusing cerebral organoids with neuromuscular organoids and seeing if they will form functional connections. “The neuromuscular organoids we have developed stay alive in the lab for more than 18 months, but they stop contracting after some months,” Gouti says. “We think this might be because there is no input from the brain.”

Fusing brain-like organoids with neuromuscular organoids would enable the researchers to study the full neuromuscular circuit in the lab, starting with signals from the brain going to the spinal cord and then the muscle.

Further recognition

Mina Gouti

Last week, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) also named Gouti one of 30 EMBO Young Investigators in 2020. More than 200 researchers applied. “These 30 scientists have demonstrated scientific excellence and are among the next generation of leading life scientists,” says EMBO Director Maria Leptin. “Their participation in the EMBO Young Investigator Programme will help them in this critical phase of their careers.”

EMBO Young Investigators are outstanding life scientists who have established their first laboratories in the past four years. They join a network of 73 current and 384 past Young Investigators. EMBO offers the researchers access to a range of benefits, including an award of €15,000 and the opportunity to apply for additional grants of up to €10,000 per year, as well as networking and training opportunities.

“I am looking forward to connecting with researchers and mentors in the EMBO network,” Gouti says. “It’s a great opportunity, not just for me, but for members of my lab who can now also participate in EMBO activities. We are all very excited.”

Text: Laura Petersen

 

Further information

 

Contact

Jana Schlütter
Editor, Communications Department
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
+49 (0)30 9406 2121
jana.schluetter@mdc-berlin.de or presse@mdc-berlin.de

 

The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)

 

The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) is one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutions. Max Delbrück, a Berlin native, was a Nobel laureate and one of the founders of molecular biology. At the MDC’s locations in Berlin-Buch and Mitte, researchers from some 60 countries analyze the human system – investigating the biological foundations of life from its most elementary building blocks to systems-wide mechanisms. By understanding what regulates or disrupts the dynamic equilibrium in a cell, an organ, or the entire body, we can prevent diseases, diagnose them earlier, and stop their progression with tailored therapies. Patients should benefit as soon as possible from basic research discoveries. The MDC therefore supports spin-off creation and participates in collaborative networks. It works in close partnership with Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in the jointly run Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité, and the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). Founded in 1992, the MDC today employs 1,600 people and is funded 90 percent by the German federal government and 10 percent by the State of Berlin.