Controlling Stem Cells by Microengineering Culture Environments

Hideaki Tsutsui
Assistant Professor
University of California Riverside

Stem cells, with their remarkable abilities to self-renew and to differentiate into multiple tissue lineages,  hold  great  promise  for  regenerative  medicine.  In  a  developing  embryo  or  an  adult body,  the  fate  of  stem  cells  is  tightly  regulated  by  their  microenvironments  which  provide  a unique combination of various extracellular stimuli such as soluble factors, extracellular matrix proteins,  cell-cell  interactions,  mechanical  stress,  pH,  ionic  strength,  temperature,  etc. Successful clinical applications of stem cells will require reproducing key signaling cues that govern  self-renewal,  proliferation,  and  differentiation  of  stem  cells  in  vitro.  Whereas conventional  cell  culture  methods  provide  limited  means  to  investigate  extracellular  cues, micro/nano technologies can offer a wide spectrum of tools to apply such cues to stem cells in a  controlled  manner.  Therefore,  stem  cell  research  is  likely  to  significantly  benefit  from  a micro/nano  technology-based  platform  that  allows  for  screening  combinations  of  various extracellular  cues.  In  addition,  the  screening  process  for  enabling  combinations  will  be challenged by a large multi-dimensional parameter space created by the number and intensity of  possible  cues,  requiring  an  efficient  optimization  method.  Currently,  we  are  developing novel engineering methods to control the fate of stem cells toward successful translation into regenerative  medicine.  In  this  talk,  I  will  review  our  previous  stem  cell-related  research  and then introduce our new research directions at UCR.

Dr. Hideaki Tsutsui is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California Riverside and a member of UCR Stem Cell Center. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2001, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California San Diego in 2003, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Los Angeles in 2009. Prior to joining UCR, he conducted  postdoctoral  research  at  the  Center  for  Cell  Control  and  the  Mechanical  and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA.