Vascular Differentiation and Engineering from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Proper blood vessel networks are necessary for constructing and re-constructing tissues, promoting wound healing, and delivering metabolic necessities throughout the body. Since their advent, human induced pluripotent stem cells have played a growing role in tissue engineering for building or reconstructing functional human tissue that is also patient specific. In this talk, I’ll present our efforts to derive vascular cells including endothelial, pericytes and smooth muscle cells from pluripotent stem cells, towards the formation of functional networks. Focus will be given on the effect of physicochemical cues on cellular fate, maturation and tissue assembly.