Internship to development a yolk sac organoid from mouse

• Grant number: 17/21183-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 20, 2018
• End date: July 19, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Eduardo Ambrósio
• Grantee: Vitória Mattos Pereira
• Supervisor: Graham J. Burton
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Cambridge, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/23502-0 - Comparison of the viability of mesenchymal stem cells of healthy and sick horses, BP.IC

Abstract

The function of the cells present in the primary yolk sac is still unknown and the secondary yolk sac, although it is responsible for the initial nutrition of the fetus, it functions still remains questioned. And the two-dimensional in vitro (2D) culture of this structure does not provide accurate information about the composition, architecture and function of this tissue. So, to resolve this problem and to get knowledge of the formation of the structure in question, we opted to use the three-dimensional in vitro (3D) culture called "organoids", which contain small populations of stem cells together with differentiated lineage cells similar to those present in tissue in vivo. This work aims to evaluate the formation of a yolk sac organoid from mouse. For the development of this organoid we will use different methodologies to verify in which technique there is better formation of this structure. In this study, we will use the mouse as an animal model and we will perform cellular differentiation techniques, culture in Matrigel (Corning) and analyses of the functionality of final product. With this project, we propose to improve the process of formation of the organoids, besides seeking a better understanding of the function of primary and second yolk sacs during the placentation process. (AU)