Abstract
Liver disease is the 5th most common cause of death in the UK. The only curative option for end-stage cirrhosis and acute liver failure is liver transplantation. However organ availability cannot meet demand and many patients die waiting for a transplant. Stem cell-based tissue engineering holds great promise for repairing damaged tissues in the body or replacing diseased tissue with a healthy tissues. The proposed project will combine expertise in stem cell biology (Habib Lab), hepatology (Rashid Lab) and advanced biomaterial design (Gentelman lab) to generate a living 3D human liver tissue in vitro, characterise its function and probe its potential to repair severe liver injuries.
References
Lowndes M., Junyent S and S.J. Habib (2017) Constructing cellular niche properties by localized presentation of Wnt proteins onto synthetic surfaces. Nature Protocols
Lowndes M., Rotherham M., Price J., El Haj A and S.J. Habib (2016) Immobilized Wnt proteins act as a stem cell niche for tissue engineering. Stem Cell Reports 12;7(1):126-37.
Habib S.J., B. Chen, F. Tsai, K. Anastassiadis, T. Meyer, E. Betzig and R. Nusse (2013)
A Localized Wnt signal orients asymmetric stem cell division in vitro. Science 339(6126):1445-1448.
Ferreira SA, Faull PA, Seymour A, Yu TTL, Loaiza S, Auner HW, Snijders AP, Gentleman E (2018) “Neighboring cells override 3D hydrogel matrix cues to drive human MSC quiescence.” Biomaterials. 176: 13-23.
Gentleman E, Swain RJ, Evans ND, Boonrungsiman S, Jell G, Ball MD, Shean, TAV, Oyen ML, Porter A, Stevens, MM (2009) “Comparative Materials Differences Revealed in Engineered Bone as a Function of Cell-Specific Differentiation.” Nature Materials. 8(9):763-70.