The Neves Lab aims understand how the different cellular compartments of the gut – including immune, epithelial, microbial and neural cells – communicate with each other, to then be able to direct those conversations to promote gut homeostasis. We work with mouse and human models to accelerate the translation of our discoveries.
People
PhD Student
PhD Student
Research Associate
Research Associate
PhD student
PhD Student
Projects
The impact of Innate Lymphoid cells on the intestinal milieu
Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) can accumulate in the inflamed intestines of Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients, however their development and impact on the gut are poorly understood. In this project, intestinal organoids are co-cultured with ILCs or their progenitors to unravel how these immune cells interact with the intestinal epithelium. This project is in collaboration with Dr Eileen Gentleman, and involves the use of synthetic hydrogel.
Microbial regulation of host intestinal epithelial and immune compartments
The epithelial cells lining the gut form a hugely important interface between our immune system and the diverse community of bacteria residing in our intestine. Changes to the intestinal bacterial community and damage to the gut epithelium are thought to promote inflammation of gut-resident immune cells, which has been implicated in the development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This project focuses on using a complex in vitro model of the gut to understand how bacteria, intestinal epithelial cells and immune cells interact. This involves combining intestinal organoids, or ‘mini-guts’, with immune cells and gut bacteria. Using this system, we hope to understand how bacteria associated with IBD may compromise the epithelial lining of the gut and stimulate gut-resident immune cells. This may improve our knowledge of early events in IBD pathogenesis.
Gut-HOP
Gut-HOP is an intestinal organoid platform that facilitates inter- and multidisciplinary disease studies, bringing together an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, biologists, bioinformaticians and biomedical engineers. We provide expertise in human induced pluripotent stem cell derived intestinal organoids.
Publications
Awards
Research grants:
2019 – 2020 King’s Together Strategic Award “Intestinal organoid platform to facilitate multidisciplinary multidisease studies”, PI (£99,989).
2019 – 2020 Cancer Research UK & VersusArthritis Innovation grant “Extracellular matrix (ECM) programming of pathogenic macrophages”, co-PI, (£45,000)
2017 – 2020 RCUK/UKRI Rutherford Fund Fellow, UKRI, UK; “The crosstalks between immune cells, bacteria and epithelial cells in the intestine: elucidating their cellular and molecular mechanisms”, Fellow (£286,000.00)
2016 – 2019 Seed Award, Wellcome Trust, UK ; A novel system to study intestinal lymphocytes”, PI (£99,951.00)
2017 – 2018 BRC STEM Early Career Award, UK; Intestinal-immune-interactions-in-a-dish for the validation of microbiome biomarkers for Geraldine Jowett , Supervisor (£10,000)
2017 King’s Prize Fellowship, UK; “A novel approach for the study of intestinal lymphocytes“, Fellow (£43,146.00)
2016-2018 Parent Leave Fund, KCL, UK, PI (£9,805)
2016-2018 Research & Development Challenge Fund, Kings Health Partners, UK; “IL22: friend or foe in innate immune mediated inflammatory bowel disease”. Co-PI (£72,056)
2015-2017 Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship, European Commission; The role of innate lymphoid cells in regulating intestinal inflammation”, Fellow (£132,975)
2014-2015 BRC STEM Early Career Award, UK; “Establishment of human mini-guts as a tool to study human intestinal lymphocyte populations”, PI (£10,000)
News
Funding awarded to further develop alternative model to animal research
Human organoid model was originally developed by Neves Lab to generate mucosal immune cell populations.
People
PhD Student
PhD Student
Research Associate
Research Associate
PhD student
PhD Student
Projects
The impact of Innate Lymphoid cells on the intestinal milieu
Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) can accumulate in the inflamed intestines of Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients, however their development and impact on the gut are poorly understood. In this project, intestinal organoids are co-cultured with ILCs or their progenitors to unravel how these immune cells interact with the intestinal epithelium. This project is in collaboration with Dr Eileen Gentleman, and involves the use of synthetic hydrogel.
Microbial regulation of host intestinal epithelial and immune compartments
The epithelial cells lining the gut form a hugely important interface between our immune system and the diverse community of bacteria residing in our intestine. Changes to the intestinal bacterial community and damage to the gut epithelium are thought to promote inflammation of gut-resident immune cells, which has been implicated in the development of chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This project focuses on using a complex in vitro model of the gut to understand how bacteria, intestinal epithelial cells and immune cells interact. This involves combining intestinal organoids, or ‘mini-guts’, with immune cells and gut bacteria. Using this system, we hope to understand how bacteria associated with IBD may compromise the epithelial lining of the gut and stimulate gut-resident immune cells. This may improve our knowledge of early events in IBD pathogenesis.
Gut-HOP
Gut-HOP is an intestinal organoid platform that facilitates inter- and multidisciplinary disease studies, bringing together an interdisciplinary team of clinicians, biologists, bioinformaticians and biomedical engineers. We provide expertise in human induced pluripotent stem cell derived intestinal organoids.
Publications
Awards
Research grants:
2019 – 2020 King’s Together Strategic Award “Intestinal organoid platform to facilitate multidisciplinary multidisease studies”, PI (£99,989).
2019 – 2020 Cancer Research UK & VersusArthritis Innovation grant “Extracellular matrix (ECM) programming of pathogenic macrophages”, co-PI, (£45,000)
2017 – 2020 RCUK/UKRI Rutherford Fund Fellow, UKRI, UK; “The crosstalks between immune cells, bacteria and epithelial cells in the intestine: elucidating their cellular and molecular mechanisms”, Fellow (£286,000.00)
2016 – 2019 Seed Award, Wellcome Trust, UK ; A novel system to study intestinal lymphocytes”, PI (£99,951.00)
2017 – 2018 BRC STEM Early Career Award, UK; Intestinal-immune-interactions-in-a-dish for the validation of microbiome biomarkers for Geraldine Jowett , Supervisor (£10,000)
2017 King’s Prize Fellowship, UK; “A novel approach for the study of intestinal lymphocytes“, Fellow (£43,146.00)
2016-2018 Parent Leave Fund, KCL, UK, PI (£9,805)
2016-2018 Research & Development Challenge Fund, Kings Health Partners, UK; “IL22: friend or foe in innate immune mediated inflammatory bowel disease”. Co-PI (£72,056)
2015-2017 Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship, European Commission; The role of innate lymphoid cells in regulating intestinal inflammation”, Fellow (£132,975)
2014-2015 BRC STEM Early Career Award, UK; “Establishment of human mini-guts as a tool to study human intestinal lymphocyte populations”, PI (£10,000)
News
Funding awarded to further develop alternative model to animal research
Human organoid model was originally developed by Neves Lab to generate mucosal immune cell populations.
Group lead
Senior Lecturer in Mucosal Immunology
Contact us
Dr Joana Neves
Lecturer in Mucosal Immunology and Group Leader
Guy's Tower Wing
Guy's Hospital
Follow us on Twitter @GutOrganoid