Invited Paper BI-WeM10
Why Biointerface Science is Important for Stem Cell Research

Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 11:00 am, Room Milo

Highly regulated signals in the stem cell microenvironment such as ligand adhesion density, matrix stiffness and architecture, growth factor presentation and concentration have been implicated in modulating stem cell differentiation, maturation, and ultimately function. Therefore, it is desirable to have independent control over both the biochemical and mechanical cues presented to stem cells to analyze their relative and combined effects on stem cell function. Accordingly, we have developed a range of materials systems to study stem cell function. This presentation will discuss our progress in developing: 1) self-organizing human cardiac microchambers mediated by geometric confinement; and, 2) in vitro disease specific tissue models (e.g., ‘organs on a chip’) to be used for high content drug screening and patient specific medicine. Examples of how biointerface science is important in these applications will be highlighted. For example, in the former we used PEG-patterned polystyrene substrates to geometrically confine human pluripotent stem cell colonies and spatially present mechanical stress. Upon chemical modulation of the Wnt/b-catenin pathway, biochemical and biophysical cues synergistically induced self-organizing lineage specification and creation of a beating human cardiac micro-chamber confined by the pattern geometry. In the second theme, we employed microfabrication technologies to form cardiac and liver micro-tissues from patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC), to be used for high content drug screening and patient specific medicine. Ideally, the use of human disease specific tissues organized into a single integrated physiological system could have an enormous impact on the early screening of candidate drugs.