Start Date / Time | January 26, 2015 at 3:10 PM |
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End Date / Time | January 26, 2015 at 4:00 PM |
Duration | 50 minutes |
Location | 4327 Steveson Center |
Presenter Name | Ethan Lippmann, Ph.D. |
Presentation Title | Neurovascular Models Constructed from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells |
Status | This meeting has already occurred |
Owing to their ability to self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into any cell type in the body, human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represent a transformative platform for applications such as drug toxicity testing and regenerative medicine. Moreover, the advent of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technologies may revolutionize disease treatment strategies by providing unlimited material for studying disease mechanisms and screening potential therapeutics in vitro. However, for these applications to reach fruition, hPSC-derived progeny must possess phenotypes that accurately represent endogenous human tissues. With this consideration in mind, I will outline several strategies for modeling neurovascular systems with hPSCs. First, I will detail a novel approach for generating endothelial cells with properties of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a highly specialized vascular interface that maintains central nervous system (CNS) health and homeostasis but restricts the delivery of therapeutics to diseased brain and spinal cord tissue. I will also describe completely defined, xeno-free methods for differentiating hPSCs into neural cells from defined anatomical locations in the forebrain, hindbrain, and spinal cord. Finally, I will discuss how these hPSC platforms, in conjunction with microscale engineering techniques and synthetic biology approaches, could facilitate innovative studies of brain drug uptake and disease mechanisms outside of the human body.
Lippmann_seminar.doc - Added on January 21, 2015 at 9:31 AM by Pam Uttz