T. Boone Pickens' posthumous donation to fund 'organoid' research among other Hotchkiss Brain Institute programs

A legacy gift to a specialized centre at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine will fund emerging research that includes creating miniature-brain-like cells, called "organoids."

The T. Boone Pickens Foundation has gifted the Hotchkiss Brain Institute with $12.5 million USD, in honour of the friendship between American philanthropist Pickens and Harley Hotchkiss, the philanthropist behind the institute's namesake.

The bulk of the gift will support recruitment and education, and expand neuroscience research from the labs at the University of Calgary.

Some of that research includes organoids.

SMALL BRAIN-LIKE STRUCTURES

"The brain organoid technology is pretty unique, dynamic, and at the same time it's very new," said Deepika Dogra, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of medical genetics.

As she explains it, "we are taking the patients blood cells, making stem cells out of those, and then giving them a brain fate. We are creating small brain-like structures in cell culture."

One Calgary family is participating in research at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute by providing blood samples to scientists to explore the brain activity of their daughter.

"When our neurologist asked if we were interested, we didn't hesitate, we said ‘a big fat yes,’" said Erin Walsh, mom of 14-year-old Linden, who was born with Dravet Syndrome, a rare and severe form of epilepsy.

"To be looking at pictures and images of your actual daughter, it's really quite different," said her father Ian.

"This is the first time that Linden specifically, her genetic make-up has been looked at. It's mind-blowing honestly," added Erin before her Ian added, "a little mini-brain."

The teenager's "mini-brain" organoid isn't been directly tested on for drug screening, but thats the ultimate goal of the research – to steer away from animal studies and to ultimately formulate treatment plans for complex brain disorders by first testing responses on the organoid cultures.

"When you are introducing medication and making changes it takes a very long time to do that. With this technology, hopefully you'd have an idea of where the gene is specifically affected and what medication would be best to treat the diagnosis" said Erin.

"It enables us to study biology and enables us to study biology enables us to do drug screening and ask questions about how this disease arose and how we might be able to treat it," said Debora Kurrasch, professor of medical genetics at the Cumming School of Medicine.

Kurrasch also says using organoids for brain or cancer research has expanded medical research in the last five years.

"I think the technology is there, I think it's early. One of the questions that we have is how well does this translate back to the child," said Kurrasch.

For other researchers, gifts like that one announced today help provide assurance their research could continue

 

"Working with the organoid culture is really expensive, all the media and re-agents that we use in this research are quite pricey," said Dogra.

The money from The T. Boone Pickens Foundation was realized earlier this year.