Brenda M. Ogle, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The primary goal of the Ogle Laboratory is to research mechanisms by which stem cells contribute to tissues during development and use these insights together with engineering principles to replace damaged systems, especially the cardiovascular system. We are particularly intrigued by spontaneous fusion of stem cells with mature cell types including cardiomyocytes. We have found that cardiac programming can occur in this context and are currently probing the transcriptional profile of stem cell-cardiomyocyte fusion products. We are also interested in how stem cells and their progeny interface with extracellular matrix proteins and the extent to which these interactions drive specification. We have contributed to the develoment of 3D bioprinting technologies to study how content, composition and distribution of intact ECM molecules in 3D dictates specification of stem cells. Other technologies under development include a cardiac patch with pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac cell types, multiphoton flow cytometry - an enhanced-throughput analysis and sorting modality for the study of biologic particles of hundred to thousand micron scale and delivery of stem cells to the cerebral vasculature to treat aneurysms.