My research involves seeding mouse embryonic stem
cell derived cardiomyocytes and cardioprogenitors into aligned networks
of fibrin gels to obtain functional cardiac patches which may someday
be used therapeutically for cardiomyoplasty.
Fig 1: cardioprogenitors seeded on fibronectin-coated
surfaces express sarcomeric alpha actinin (green) and connexin 43
(red), showing that they are contractile and electrically coupled.
Nuclei stained blue with dapi.
Fig 2: Confocal image slice of cardioprogenitors
implanted in fibrin gel showing cell alignment and electrical coupling.
Sarcomeric alpha actinin (red) and connexin 43 (green), nuclei stained
blue with dapi.
To more reproducibly guide the alignment of cell-gel
networks, I am also working on improving microfabrication techniques
to produce arrays of high aspect ratio PDMS pillars that are capable
of introducing anisotropy into the gel networks.
Fig 3: Zygometer profile of SU-8 pillars fabricated
on a silicon substrate. These pillars can be molded using standard
soft lithography techniques to produce PDMS pillars of the same
dimensions.
