Biologically Driven Assembly of Human Tissues in Synthetic Environments

In contemporary drug discovery and toxin screening there is a need to develop human, ex vivo models that represent critical features of human organs. Human pluripotent stem cells offer unprecedented potential for developing “organotypic” models for a variety of applications, including drug and toxin screening.  Furthermore, recent studies demonstrate that human pluripotent stem cells may be capable of forming functional organotypic culture models via a process we term “biologically driven assembly”, in which cells are allowed to undergo morphogenesis processes without substantial external control. This talk will introduce the role of synthetic biomaterials for defining the process of tissue assembly ex vivo. Controllable parameters such as the surrounding stiffness, protease-lability, and geometry can strongly influence cellular assembly. The talk will also describe biologically driven assembly of vascular and neural tissues for screening applications. Our studies to date emphasize the potential for synthetic biomaterials to define conditions for tissue assembly, with the ultimate goal of creating robust, reproducible, human tissues in a dish.