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Investigating the Influence of Microcarrier Physicochemical Properties on Extracellular Vesicle Production聽
Extracellular vesicles (EV) are nano- to micron-sized vesicles with lipid bilayers ranging from 30 to 1,000 nm in diameter that are secreted by most cell types. EVs are being utilised in a wide range of biomedical applications, including 鈥渓iquid biopsies鈥� for biomarker discovery, vaccine development, tissue regeneration, drug delivery, and gene therapy. We are interested in how the way cells are grown can influence the quantity and quality EVs produced, as described in our . This multidisciplinary project is investigating whether聽bio-manufacturing of EVs聽will be improved through identification of parent cell substrates in the form of microcarriers that are inspired by physicochemical conditions known to enhance EV production.聽
People involved:
Professor Richard Day
Professor Costanza Emanueli (Imperial College London)
Professor Sean Davidson
Juzheng Zhang
iPSC-Derived Cardiac Organoids for Investigating聽Disease and New Therapies
This multidisciplinary project is developing a platform technology involving iPSC-derived cardiac organoids to investigate inherited diseases, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and safety testing of potentially cardiotoxic drugs.聽Organoid models of human tissue provide unique advantages for modelling human disease compared with the use of animal models and will become increasingly important for testing new therapies.聽
People involved:
Imogen Heenan (BHF funded PhD student)
Professor Richard Day
Dr Petros Syrris (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences)
Investigating the Influence of Hierarchical Topographical Features on Angiogenesis
This multifaceted programme of research is funded by the British Heart Foundation and Medical Research Council and involves investigating novel biomaterial-based approaches for therapeutic angiogenesis. The unique surface topography of biodegradable and biocompatible 3D biomaterials made using the TIPS process is being utilized for its angiogenic potential. This includes materials in the form of microspheres,聽both alone and in combination with various cell types聽including mesenchymal stromal cells (see ) and platelets (), and when produced as porous films (). If successful, the novel approach could be used as a curative treatment for life-threatening diseases such as coronary heart disease and peripheral arterial disease, as well as for treatment of chronic wounds.
People involved:
Professor Richard Day
Dr Charikleia Simitzi
Dr Caroline Pellet-Many (Royal Veterinary College)
Professor Paolo Madeddu (Section of Regenerative Medicine, University of Bristol)
Redefining iPSC-Derived Cardiomyocyte Delivery using a Pro-Survival Substrate
Ischaemic heart disease is a global health issue. Myocardial ischaemia is of particular significance, resulting in the irreversible and extensive loss of cardiomyocytes. Cell therapy provides a potential therapy for cardiac muscle regeneration and various teams around the world are attempting to utilise cell-based strategies for this purpose. However, loss of cell viability and retention of cells following delivery into the myocardium poses a significant challenge that risks reducing potency of the therapy.
This BHF-funded project has involved a collaboration with聽Dr Sanjay Sinha's lab at the University of Cambridge and聽builds on our study聽that show TIPS microspheres聽provide a substrate for attachment and growth of cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). The aim of the project is to investigate the use of TIPS microparticles for targeted delivery of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes into cardiac tissue to improve cell viability and engraftment for myocardial regeneration.
People involved:
Professor Richard Day
Dr Annalisa Bettini
Professor Daniel Stuckey, UCL Division of Medicine
Dr Maria Colzani聽(Anne McLaren Laboratory, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge)
Professor Sanjay Sinha (Anne McLaren Laboratory, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge)