Join this event to learn more about how researchers are using arts-integrative methods to create organoids, three-dimensional cellular structures developed from stem cells. The Organoids team includes practitioners from art, dance, molecular medicine, engineering, animal science, and cellular biology. Organoid structures are of interest in seeking solutions for problems including adrenal gland insufficiency, understanding human embryonic development, and how hormone regulation impacts diseases such as PTSD.

Hosted by the Arts Collaborative student organization. The Organoids project was supported in part by the UGA Arts Collaborative. This event is part of the UGA Spotlight on the Arts festival. More information on the 2024 Spotlight on the Arts festival, including a schedule of events, can be found at arts.uga.edu.

Project participants:

• Nadja Zeltner, Center for Molecular Medicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology faculty
• Martijn van Wagtendonk, Art faculty
• Lohitash Karumbaiah, Regenerative Bioscience Center and Animal Diary Science faculty
• Ramana Pidaparti, Engineering faculty
• Breanna Urbanowicz, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center faculty
• Maryn Whitmore-Mills
• Alexander Bucksch, Plant Biology faculty
• Eileen Wallace, Art faculty
• Mable Fox, Engineering faculty
• Christina James, graduate student in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Samuel Horgan, graduate student in Art

Awards

Project leader Nadja Keltner received an NSF CAREER grant for multi-year support of engineering next-generation adrenal gland organoids with arts-integrated methods.

Graduate assistant Christina James received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a five-year award to help ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States.

The project was awarded a Franklin College Rapid Interdisciplinary Proposal grants, responding to the need for new paradigms that shape future research, life-long learning, public discourse, service, and dynamic entrepreneurship.