Evaluating the New Secondary Informatics Curriculum in The Netherlands:The Teachers’ Perspective

Since the introduction of Informatics as an elective course in secondary education in the Netherlands in 1998, the implemented curriculum is being regularly monitored. The results of the large 2013 secondary Informatics teachers survey contributed to the revision of the Informatics curriculum. This revised curriculum came into effect in 2019. In line with regular curriculum monitoring practices, the Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development is polling the secondary Informatics teachers to understand their views and opinions on the intended curriculum and to learn about their implemented curriculum The results indicate that the majority of the respondents find the new Informatics curriculum better than the old one and that it offers a solid foundation for their teaching practice. A minority either misses some content in the curriculum or considers it overloaded with content, and some find it not to be up to date. Furthermore, the results of this survey are compared to the results of the 2013 survey to assess to what extent the new Informatics curriculum meets the teachers’ needs and recommendations better.</p

Disease Modeling and Gene Therapy of Copper Storage Disease in Canine Hepatic Organoids

The recent development of 3D-liver stem cell cultures (hepatic organoids) opens up new avenues for gene and/or stem cell therapy to treat liver disease. To test safety and efficacy, a relevant large animal model is essential but not yet established. Because of its shared pathologies and disease pathways, the dog is considered the best model for human liver disease. Here we report the establishment of a long-term canine hepatic organoid culture allowing undifferentiated expansion of progenitor cells that can be differentiated toward functional hepatocytes. We show that cultures can be initiated from fresh and frozen liver tissues using Tru-Cut or fine-needle biopsies. The use of Wnt agonists proved important for canine organoid proliferation and inhibition of differentiation. Finally, we demonstrate that successful gene supplementation in hepatic organoids of COMMD1-deficient dogs restores function and can be an effective means to cure copper storage disease

Disease Modeling and Gene Therapy of Copper Storage Disease in Canine Hepatic Organoids

The recent development of 3D-liver stem cell cultures (hepatic organoids) opens up new avenues for gene and/or stem cell therapy to treat liver disease. To test safety and efficacy, a relevant large animal model is essential but not yet established. Because of its shared pathologies and disease pathways, the dog is considered the best model for human liver disease. Here we report the establishment of a long-term canine hepatic organoid culture allowing undifferentiated expansion of progenitor cells that can be differentiated toward functional hepatocytes. We show that cultures can be initiated from fresh and frozen liver tissues using Tru-Cut or fine-needle biopsies. The use of Wnt agonists proved important for canine organoid proliferation and inhibition of differentiation. Finally, we demonstrate that successful gene supplementation in hepatic organoids of COMMD1-deficient dogs restores function and can be an effective means to cure copper storage disease