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Vanderbilt Center for Stem Cell Biology (VCSCB)

Nicholas Zachos, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Surgery
Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Research Description

My research program investigates stem cell responses to enteric pathogen infections in the gut using patient stem-cell derived organoids. We have advanced these models by developing co-culture systems that incorporate primary human immune cells with organoids. We expose these co-culture models to bacteria, viruses, or fungi to identify and characterize which microbe- and innate immune-derived factors influence intestinal stem cell maintenance, proliferation,  lineage differentiation, and repair/regeneration post-infection/injury. Patient stem-cell derived organoids functionally recapitulate normal intestinal physiology and pathophysiology of GI disorders including Inflammatory Bowel Disease, metabolic diseases (Obesity/Type II Diabetes), and cancer suggesting that disease-associated pathologies are imprinted in stem cells. The long-term goal is to use these multicellular co-culture models to compare organoids from healthy subjects or patients with GI disorders associated with inflammation to provide insights into disease etiology and progression ultimately leading to the development of novel treatment strategies and drug discovery to target intestinal stem cells.

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