BioE PhD Proposal Presentation- Zhe Zhong

Advisor: 

Ankur Singh, PhD (George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech and Emory University)

Committee Members:

Andrés J. García, PhD (George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech)

Susan N. Thomas, PhD (George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech)

Ahmet Coskun, PhD (Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech)

Jean L. Koff, MD, MS (Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University)

Human immune organoids to decode B cell response in healthy donors and patients with lymphoma

Understanding human B cell differentiation is vital for developing effective vaccines and therapies, especially in immunocompromised patients such as those with B cell lymphoma. Current models based on secondary lymphoid tissues like tonsils have provided valuable insights but remain limited by tissue availability, intrinsic inflamed microenvironments, and the inability to mimic the complex human lymphoid microenvironment. To address this, I propose the development of synthetic hydrogels that mimic the lymphoid tissue microenvironment, enabling human B cell maturation processes from tonsils and peripheral blood mononuclear cell-derived B cells. These organoids emulate lymphoid tissue biophysical properties, chemokine gradients, and cell–cell interactions, enabling the study of germinal center formation and antibody-producing plasma cell differentiation under physiologically relevant conditions. I will apply this platform to characterize B cell fate decisions across healthy donors and lymphoma patients through transcriptomic and epigenetic profiling using multiparametric approaches. I will integrate immune organoids with microfluidic devices to spatially regulate spatial organization via chemokine gradients, enabling mechanistic studies of B cell selection dynamics in health and diseases. Altogether, my research allows rapid, controlled modelling of immune responses and B cell disorders, developing next-generation immunotherapies.