top of page

SCIENCE SIMPLIFIED

By Richard Z. Zhuang & Roberta Lock

Explore cutting edge science that we're excited about in the tissue engineering field and learn about some of the concepts that are central to what we do here at the Tissue Engineering Resource Center!

WHAT'S NEW IN TISSUE ENGINEERING?

Growing Hair in the Lab Within Days

Article by Sabrina Madiedo-Podvrsan

Researchers were able to mimic the early stages of hair sprouting in vitro by imitating part of this dynamic and self-renewing lower segment

Gene Editing Prevents Heart Cell Therapy- associated Arrhythmias

Article by Richard Z. Zhuang

Using gene editing technology, scientists are able to edit the DNA of the implanted cells to prevent these engraftment-related arrhythmias upon implantation.

Bioengineered Corneal Tissue to Restore Vision

Article by Roberta Lock

A cell-free corneal tissue was bioengineered using collagen extracted from the leftover skin of pigs that were processed for meat products.

Choreographing Early Brain Development

Article by Anushka Srivastava

Researchers incorporate microglia in brain organoids unveiling a lipid-mediated crosstalk essential to neurogenesis.

Engineering Long-lasting Blood Vessels

Article by François Chesnais

Researchers “reset” human endothelial cells by transiently overexpressing an embryonic transcription factor allowing for the formation of stable and physiologically relevant blood vessels.

Repairing Damaged Airways via Cell Transplantation

Article by Ivana Matkovic

Researchers achieved successful engraftment of airway epithelial cells from both mouse and human basal cells into an injured mouse lung

Rethinking Immunosuppression for Stem Cell-derived Heart Patches

Article by Nicole Julia

Researchers reassessed the timeline of immunosuppressive regimens required following hiPSC-CM patch transplantation.

Engineering Human Skin for Wound Healing & Cosmetic Enhancements

Article by Jasmine Adams

Researchers generate wearable edgeless skin constructs that closely resemble the anatomical and functional characteristics of human skin.

‘Sentient’ Neurons? A Step Towards Synthetic Biological Intelligence

Article by Jamila Martin

Researchers investigate the learning ability of stem cell-derived cortical neurons through a negative-positive feedback loop of electrical stimuli to simulate playing a game of Pong.

Engineering the Human Vagina On-a-Chip

Article by Maria Samaritano

Researchers create a novel human vagina-on-a-chip model that allows for the study of complex interactions between the vaginal microbiome and the host.

Maturing Cardiac Tissues Using Tricellular Cultures

Josephine Watkins and Margaretha Morsink

Researchers cardiac tissues made from cardiomyocytes, cardiac fibroblasts, and cardiac endothelial cells to study genetic disease

Combatting Infectious Diseases with Nanotechnology

Article by Derek Ning

Researchers developed and tested modular synthetic polymers and polymer-lipid nanomimics that are able to inhibit the entry of different viruses and parasites

Engineering a Model for Heart Injury in a Dish

Article by Morgan Lamberti

Researchers here develop a model for ischemia-reperfusion injury and its subsequent effects using engineered heart tissues. .

Implanting Stem Cell-derived Islet Cells for Diabetes

Article by Leah Andrews

Researchers evaluated the efficacy and safety of implanting stem cell-derived pancreatic endoderm beta cells to treat type I diabetes

Using Tissues-on-a-Chip to Study Obesity

Article by Vanessa Li

Researchers developed a white adipose tissue-on-a-chip model to study obesity and associated diseases

Optical Nanotransformer Enabled Light Control of Cell Behavior

Article by Martin Liberman

This lab group developed nanoparticles that allow the use of near infrared light to control blue light activated optogenetic proteins

Using Soy Protein to Grow Engineered Meat

Article by Lori Luo

The researchers used soy protein to create scaffolding and evaluated its ability to help grow cow muscle cells

Preserving Livers for Transplantation

Article by Tyrone Baines III

Researchers preserve use a perfusion machine to preserve a donor liver outside the body for 3 days before implantation into a patient

Filling the Hole in Your Heart

Article by Jaron Whitehead

Researchers genetically engineered stem cells to help visualise what happens to when stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes when implanted into the heart

Cells to Cell Phones: A Wearable Microneedle Sensor

Article by Eloy Sanchez

Researchers have developed a non-invasive method of monitoring biomarkers via a wearable skin adhering device that connects to a smartphone

Repairing Gastrointestinal Defects with a Duct Tape-like Patch

Article by Diogo Teles

With duct tape as their inspiration, researchers developed an off-the-shelf bioadhesive patch to repair GI defects.

Fake Brain Images Help with Brain Tumor Diagnosis

Article by Kunlun Wang

Researcher use deep fake data augmentation techniques to generate brain MRI images indistinguishable by expert physicians.

Airway-on-a-Chip Helps to Identify Medications Faster

Article by Maria Hudock

This human airway-on-a-chip responds to invading viruses and to drugs like animals and humans do and can allow us to better predict which drugs can fight new diseases.

Device for Transplanting Therapeutic Human Cells 

Article by Diogo Teles

This implantable and retrievable device for the transplantation of therapeutic cells that can stay viable for up to several months in the body. 

Engineering a Blinking Eye On-a-Chip

Article by Richard Z. Zhuang

Through reverse-engineering, researchers were able to create a model of the human eye surface that allows us to better understand how blinking affects underlying ocular tissue.

Engineering Vascularized Bone Marrow "On-a-Chip"

Article by Roberta Lock

Researchers use microfluidic and stem cell technologies to develop a 3D model of the human bone marrow .

3D Printing an Anatomically Correct Human Heart

Article by Roberta Lock

Researchers 3D printed functional heart patches that matched the anatomical, cellular, and biochemical properties of an individual’s heart.

bottom of page