NTU scientists grow 'mini kidneys' in lab to test drugs
A mini kidney measures around 1mm to 2mm wide - seen as a white dot above, in comparison to the 10 cent coin. The mini kidneys are grown outside the body from the skin cells of a patient with genetic polycystic kidney disease. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
A team of researchers at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have found a way to grow "mini kidneys" in the laboratory.
These miniature versions of the human kidney are around one to two millimetres wide, and are used now at NTU to test how effective some drugs can be in curing polycystic kidney disease, which causes cysts to form on a kidney.
The mini kidneys are known as kidney organoids, and are grown outside the body from the skin cells of a patient with genetic polycystic kidney disease.
Over a three-month period, the skin cells can be reprogrammed into becoming stem cells, after which they can be manipulated to grow into organoids.
Due to the tissue being obtained from patients with the disease, the organoids will develop fluid-filled cysts. At this point, drug molecules can be applied to the organoids to test their efficacy.
Two drug molecules have since been tested on diseased organoids from patients with kidney cysts, with the tests proving that the drugs could reduce the size of the cysts on the "mini kidneys".
"Our kidney organoids, grown from the cells of a patient with inherited polycystic kidney diseases, have allowed us to find out which drugs will be most effective for the specific patient" said Dr Xia Yun, principal investigator on the project and assistant professor at the NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
"We believe that this approach can be extended to study many other types of kidney disease."
Dr Xia added that these kidney organoids will allow for medication to be tailored from patient to patient.
"Drug screening does not take into account some genetic errors that cause kidney disease," she said. "These genetic differences can influence directly how patients react to kidney disease treatment. Having these organoids allows us to test and develop personalised treatment for each patient, from their genetic material."
When grown to full size, the organoids function like human foetal kidneys in the first three to six months of development. These organoids could be used to understand the development of nephrons - the kidney's filtering units - that happens as the foetus grows.
Previous research has shown that having a higher number of nephrons at birth appears to to provide some degree of protection against conditions like hypertension and kidney failure, and decrease the incidences of these illnesses later in life.
Additionally, the proof that these miniature versions of the human kidney can be made in the lab, and that these organoids still function when implanted into a mouse's circulation system, also opens up possibilities that the kidneys can one day be used to replace diseased kidneys.
"Although we are still quite far away from using these kidney organoids for replacement therapy, this study has made a small step closer to this ultimate goal," said Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, stem cell scientist and an international collaborator on this study.
~Straits Times~
NTU scientists develop probes that light up when kidney failure is detected
The team has filed a Singapore patent for the technology.PHOTO: NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, SINGAPORE
Imaging probes that light up when acute kidney failure is detected have been developed by local scientists, helping to spot the condition 1½ days faster than other real-time molecular imaging methods. The probes, which are injected into the bloodstream, light up due to a chemical reaction when they detect molecular changes caused by the onset of acute kidney failure.
Developed by scientists from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the probes have been tested on mice and will progress to human trials next year.
Acute kidney failure usually occurs in a few hours or a few days, and is most common among patients who are critically ill and need intensive care.
In 2015, there were 1,619 people diagnosed with kidney failure in Singapore, the main cause of this being diabetes.
Unlike the probes, current diagnostic platforms are unable to detect early stage, pre-morbid changes that underlie acute renal failure, said Associate Professor Pu Kanyi from the NTU School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.
These platforms include the serum creatinine test, which measures the level of creatinine in the blood and provides an estimate of how well the kidneys filter, and the blood urea nitrogen test, which measures the amount of urea nitrogen in the blood. Higher-than-normal urea nitrogen levels suggest that the kidneys or liver may not be working properly.
In contrast, the probes are sensitive enough to track changes in the biological processes triggered by the onset of acute kidney failure.
"For patients who are critically ill, like those in the intensive care unit, every minute is precious in reversing a condition like acute kidney failure, which can cause a patient's health to deteriorate rapidly," he said.
When tested on mice, the probes lit up 12 hours after cancer drug cisplatin was given at a level destructive to the kidneys - 1½ days faster than other real-time molecular imaging methods.
The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Materials in May.
Prof Pu said there is also the possibility of developing the probes into test strips for urine samples, making it a non-invasive method of detecting acute kidney failure.
The NTU researchers found that the probe has high renal clearance - more than 97 per cent of the probes injected into mice flowed through the kidneys, and were excreted as part of urine.
When added to the urine sample and incubated for a few hours, the probes light up when exposed to UV light in the presence of biomarkers.
The team has filed a Singapore patent for the technology.
Their next phase of research will involve working with local and overseas medical institutions to further refine the probes using urine samples from patients in the intensive care unit by next year.
~News courtesy of Straits Times~
NUS and NTU take joint 11th place in latest QS university rankings
The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have claimed joint 11th placing in the latest edition of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.
The 2020 edition of the QS rankings, which ranks the world's top 1,000 universities, was released on Wednesday (June 19).
NUS maintained its 2019 position at 11th, while NTU jumped one spot up from 12th last year. This makes them both the best-placed Asian universities in the latest rankings, with China's Tsinghua University joining them in the top 20.
An NUS spokesperson said in a statement: “The remarkable global standing of our local universities attests to the quality of Singapore’s higher education system.”
In its press release, QS said that NUS has a better reputation than NTU among academics and employers. On the other hand, NTU has the edge in terms of its smaller class sizes and larger research impact.
Mr Ben Sowter, director of research at QS, said: “Singapore’s top two universities are a model for higher education excellence: High academic standards, a highly international outlook, and small classes designed to facilitate the sort of teaching that creates highly employable critical thinkers.”
Mr Sowter also pointed out that both NUS and NTU received lower scores this year for their faculty-to-student ratios and international student ratios.
“Efforts must be made to ensure that the state’s universities do not suffer the same teaching capacity pressures as their European and Australian peers,” he cautioned.
In a statement, NTU said that its new leadership team under its fourth president, Professor Subra Suresh, has overseen the hiring of top talent over the past year-and-a-half.
NTU added that its Presidential Post-doctoral Fellows programme, launched in 2018, attracted applications for 12 positions this year, from nearly 900 young people from top institutions around the world.
Singapore Management University was the only other Singapore university to feature in the rankings. It ranked 477th, moving up 23 places from its previous ranking of 500th last year.
The 2020 QS World University Rankings surveyed more than 94,000 academics and 44,000 employers to rank the world’s top universities from 82 countries.
Six performance indicators — academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, faculty-to-student ratio, and the proportions of international faculty and international students — were used in the assessment.
~Today Online~
南大与环境局合设废料转化能源设施
（早报讯）南洋理工大学与国家环境局携手设立废料转化能源研究设施，未来有望延长实马高岛寿命。
耗资4000万元打造的废料转化能源研究设施位于大士南，于今年3月投入运作。这栋设施每天可处理11.5公吨的一般固体废料。
环境及水原部长马善高今早在废料转化能源研究设施的开幕仪式上致辞时指出，废料转化能源研究设施将为科研人员和企业提供平台，在实际操作环境中测试创新点子和原型。
南大每天制造的一般固体废料会运送到那里分类和撕碎后，连同生物质炭运上输送带，进入熔炉。
设施里的熔渣气化设备温度可高达1600摄氏度，比一般焚化炉的约850摄氏度高。
废料经过干燥和气化过程，约85%废料会形成合成气，12%成为金属渣，其余3%则为飞灰。合成气经第二个燃烧室加温，会让锅炉加热产生蒸汽，并以此发电。
~早报网~
