The medical school will welcome Takanori Takebe, MD, PhD, in October as the featured speaker for Seminars in Investigative Medicine.聽
Dr. Takebe鈥檚 presentation, 鈥淢odeling human fetal liver development in a dish,鈥 is scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, in TBL 2 at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus in downtown Kalamazoo. A pizza lunch from Jets will be provided for attendees.聽
The event is free and MEDU and CE credit is available. For more information about CE credit, please go to .听听
If you plan to attend, please register . Individuals who RSVP will be admitted before those without a reservation.聽
Dr. Takebe serves as director for Commercial Innovation at the Cincinnati Children鈥檚 Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Research and Medicine (CuSTOM) and as endowed chair of Organoid Medicine. In addition to his appointment as an associate professor in the University of Cincinnati Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Takebe is a professor at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University鈥檚 Institute of Research.聽
Currently, Dr. Takebe鈥檚 lab is focused on developing an 鈥渋n-a-dish" engineering strategy for directing complex hepatogenesis from human stem cells.聽
鈥淢y ultimate goal is to save children in need of a new liver through the development of organoids 鈥攕tem-cell-derived miniature organs,鈥 Dr. Takebe explained on the Cincinnati Children鈥檚 website. 鈥淥rganoid technology allows for the study of drug development and transplant applications otherwise impossible.鈥澛
Dr. Takebe鈥檚 lab has been successful in designing complex miniature organs in a dish from pluripotent stem cells, for example, by integration of vascular, mesenchymal and immune components into human liver organoids, according to the Cincinnati Children鈥檚 website. 聽
Most notably, while studying early liver development, Dr. Takebe鈥檚 research team engineered human stem cells into multi-organs composed of hepato-biliary-pancreatic tissue with interconnected structures.聽
Seminars in Investigative Medicine is a research seminar series at WMed aimed at bringing together the community of investigators both within 鈥 and outside 鈥 the medical school.