Junior scientist Dr Lika Drakhlis receives the research prize of the Dresden Cardiovascular Days 2025.
Mini hearts for research: Dr Lika Drakhlis develops organoids. Copyright: Karin Kaiser / MHH
Organoids are a matter close to Dr Lika Drakhlis's heart. The stem cell biologist works at the Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO) at the Clinic for Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and has been researching the development of mini-organs for nine years. The young scientist has already successfully published the results of her studies on these ‘heart-forming organoids’ (HFOs) in prestigious journals such as ‘Nature Biotechnology’ and ‘Nature Cell Biology’. Now she has been honoured with this year's research prize of the Dresden Cardiovascular Days (DHKT) for her work on ‘Complex cardiohepatic organoids for advanced drug testing’. The award, which comes with a prize money of €20,000, is presented annually to promote young scientists. It is intended to support ongoing scientific projects in the entire cardiovascular field, in both basic and clinical research.
Valuable research tool
Organoids are only a few millimetres in size. They consist of cell groups grown in the laboratory that exhibit organ-like structures. They are tricky to produce: the required nutrients, growth factors and signalling molecules must be added according to a precise schedule in a specific order and at specific times. Similar to embryonic development, organoids make it possible to study the interaction of cells in three-dimensional space – for example, in metabolic processes or disease mechanisms. While most organoids replicate individual organs, HFOs represent a complex multi-tissue organoid model for the development of the heart, blood vessels, and precursors of the liver and lungs. In 2024, LEBAO researchers succeeded for the first time in developing a model based on HFOs that combines not only heart development but also blood formation. This makes the mini-organs a valuable tool for research into cardiovascular diseases.
Flexible like a construction kit
Another advantage of HFOs is that they are as flexible as a construction kit. ‘We are already working on the development of further multi-tissue organoid models,’ says Dr Drakhlis. ‘The cardiovascular component of the organoid should always be retained, while we add other tissues as new components, so to speak.’ The stem cell biologist now plans to use the prize money to develop the organoids into liver-like structures and to develop a heart-liver-blood vessel model that could be used for drug testing and development.
Text: Kirsten Pötzke