The 2024 Autumn Term Cardiac Function Seminar series talks will be back  Thursday 5th September, when we will be welcoming Alexander Ainscough, Lecturer in Organotypic Systems, NHLI

Talk Title: Biofabrication strategies for vascularisation of thick cardiac tissues

Talk Time: 12:30 – 13:30 UK time

Location: Hybrid Meeting (Hybrid – online Via Teams and Meeting room 427/428 4th Floor ICTEM, Hammersmith Campus, Du Cane Road W12 0NN

Please note the seminar organizers and the Head of Section would like to request that attendees will in the majority of cases be physically present in the seminar room and a participation via Teams shall be the exception.

Talk summary:

Pre-vascularised tissue constructs increase the likelihood of successful anastomosis with the host and ultimately long-term construct survival in vivo. Towards the goal of on-demand, patient-specific, implantable cardiac tissue constructs, new in vitro biofabrication strategies are needed to assemble tissues containing billions of cells with fully interconnected vascular networks. Key challenges to address are the scalable biomanufacturing and vascularisation of biofabricated in vitro tissue constructs.

Short bio:

I received my PhD from Imperial College where I worked in the NHLI under the guidance of Professor Beata Wojciak-Stothard and Professor Joshua Edel. I created a vascular organ-on-chip model of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), identified a novel signalling axis and conducted drug testing in collaboration with AstraZeneca. After my PhD I moved to Boston to undertake postdoctoral training under the guidance of Professor Jennifer Lewis at Harvard University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. At Harvard, I used stem cell derived organoids combined with bioengineering techniques to create thick microvascularised cardiac tissues. I moved back to the NHLI in May 2024 to set up my own research group where my research interests are in the application of organoids, organs-on-chips and 3D bioprinting to cardiovascular and respiratory disease.

If you are joining online and you have not yet signed up to join the Cardiac Function Seminar Team group in order to participate in the seminar online please register via the linked tab or here which will provide access to the Team.

Please do this ahead of time of the talk.

The Cardiac Function Seminar Team
(Prof. Thomas Brand, Natasha Richmond)