Introduction

Functional Organoid-based Biometabolism Laboratory (FOBL) is the organoid-based molecular biology lab located at Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, South Korea. Our lab was established in 2023 by Assistant Professor Jong-Chan Park, who is an expert on the induced-pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-based molecular cell biology and the generation of brain organoids. Using iPS cell-based high-end techniques, our lab is trying to shed light on the development of organoid-based precision medicine, visualizing quantum biophysical bioenergetic and metabolic mechanisms, and constructing biological and mathematical disease models. Moreover, our lab is currently developing novel stem cell and functional organ-on-a-chip-based technologies for the ultimate goal to materialize human-on-a-chip platforms which can be applied to diverse refractory diseases. 

What is "Organoid"? 

An organoid is a miniaturized and simplified version of an organ that can be produced in vitro in 3D that shows realistic micro-anatomy. It is derived from specific stem-cell types such as embryonic stem cells or iPS cells which can self-organize in three-dimensional culture owing to their self-renewal and differentiation capacities.  A multitude of organ structures have been recapitulated using organoids; cerebral organoids including forebrain or midbrain organoids, gut organoids including intestinal or gastric organoids, lung organoids, blood-brain-barrier organoids, and so on. Since current organoid systems hold several limitations such as off-target differentiation issues or safety issues, our lab will strive to iron out such difficulties with our full efforts using diverse high-end techniques and quantum biophysical approaches.