Biotechnologist Dr. Mark-Christian Jaboreck has been conducting research at Hannover Medical School (MHH) in the DZL research group led by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Martin since 2017. Establishing and characterizing a cystic fibrosis lung model based on human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) was the main focus of his doctoral thesis. After completing his doctorate in early 2023, he has continued the project as a postdoc to improve, expand the model, and investigate alternative therapeutic approaches.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients suffer from a rare, inherited disorder that causes chronic infections and inflammation of the airways, leading to continuous and irreparable loss of lung function. The research groups of DZL scientists Prof. Dr. Ulrich Martin and PD Dr. Ruth Olmer at the Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO) at MHH aim to develop novel disease models to improve the research and treatment of CF.

LEBAO specializes in using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to study diseases such as CF in various tissues and organs. Compared to other disease models, hiPSCs offer significant advantages as they can be easily generated from both healthy and diseased donors through the reprogramming of somatic cells. They represent an inexhaustible cell source and can differentiate into all cell types of the human body. Since hiPSCs have been used in very few studies to investigate lung disease in CF so far, the study from the groups of Prof. Martin and PD Olmer aimed to provide the much-needed evidence of the utility of hiPSCs in CF research.

Text: BREATH/ MC Jaboreck

Photo: Ben Kilb