Abstract
Bone defects often require substantial donor bone tissue and represent a burden for patients and healthcare systems. Stem cell-based tissue engineering holds a great promise for improving human health by using stem cells to repair damaged tissues in the body or replace diseased tissue with a healthy tissue. The proposed project will combine the expertise in stem cell biology and tissue engineering (Habib Lab), protein chemistry (Muller Lab) and material engineering (Gentleman lab) to generate a 3D human osteogenic tissue in vitro, characterise its function and probe its potential to repair severe bone defects in old animals.
References
Okuchi Y, Reeves J, Ng SS, Doro DH, Junyent S, Liu KJ, El Haj AJ, and Habib SJ (2021) Wnt-modified materials mediate asymmetric stem cell division to direct human osteogenic tissue formation for bone repair. Nature Materials Jan;20(1):108-118
Lowndes M, Junyent S and Habib SJ (2017) Constructing cellular niche properties by localized presentation of Wnt proteins on synthetic surfaces. Nature Protocols 12(7):1498-1512
Lowndes M, Rotherham M, Price JC, El Haj AJ, Habib SJ (2016) Immobilized WNT proteins act as a stem cell niche for tissue engineering. Stem Cell Reports. 12;7(1):126-37
ILC1 drive intestinal epithelial and matrix remodelling Jowett, G. M., et al and Gentelman E., NATURE MATERIALS. 20, 2, p. 250-259 10 p.
Semisynthetic ‘designer’ p53 sheds light on a phosphorylation-acetylation relay. Margiola S, Gerecht K, Müller MM. Chem Sci 2021 in press. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1SC00396H