Skip to main content

SEMINAR:Tissue and Organ Engineering for Disease Modeling and Clinical..

Speaker:Aylin Acun

Title: Tissue and Organ Engineering for Disease Modeling and Clinical Applications

Date/Time:18 May 2022 / 13:40 - 14:30

Zoom link: https://sabanciuniv.zoom.us/j/98561201976?pwd=K1Jsai9RcDJQSlN2cW0xZFhqV1ZXUT09

Passcode: gradsem

Abstract:Tissue engineering aims the development of functional constructs that restore, maintain, or improve damaged tissues or whole organs. The two main applications of tissue engineering are disease modeling and replacement of damaged tissues and organs in patients. In this talk both main applications of tissue engineering will be discussed. In the first part of the talk the focus will be on the development of an aged heart disease model using human stem cells to study heart attack. Through in vitro aging of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived heart muscle cells, a cell population mimicking the functional deterioration of native aged heart was achieved. Then through incorporation of these aged cells to a microenvironment with stiffness similar to that of the aged heart led to the development of a 3D aged heart tissue. The resulting engineered heart tissue is the first example of an aged in vitro heart disease model. This model shows similar drug response to aged mice showing promise for studying age-related diseases in a human-origin and more physiologically relevant manner. 

In the second part of the talk the focus will be on the development of vascularized tissues and organs. Specifically, whole liver and large-scale skin tissue development through decellularization technique will be introduced. Decellularization is a promising tool for development of functional tissue and organ substitutes by using discarded human donor organs or various large animal tissues. It aims the removal of cellular tissues while preserving the native composition and complex structure of the large tissue and organs. The resulting tissue/organ scaffolds are then available for recellularization for development of functional tissue/organ substitutes. In this talk the development of whole human liver substitutes using livers from different age donors and the development of large-scale, vascular porcine skin grafts will be discussed. The talk will be concluded with future research directions in using tissue engineering for studying aging and age-related diseases.

Bio: Aylin Acun received her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences followed by her M.S. degree in Biotechnology from Middle East Technical University, Turkey. She pursued her graduate studies in the Bioengineering Graduate Program at University of Notre Dame. Her graduate studies focused on developing young and aged heart tissue models for studying heart attack and reperfusion injury conditions and understanding the role of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions in stress conditions. After earning her Ph.D. degree in 2018, she joined Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery (CEMS) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston as a postdoctoral research fellow. Her post-graduate work at CEMS focused on development of large-scale, vascularized tissue and organ substitutes for clinical applications. Her research specifically focused on development of whole liver substitutes for transplantation and vascularized skin substitutes for treating large skin defects. She joined Widener University in 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Her current research focuses on development of aged heart and liver disease models to study common systemic pathologies of the two organ systems. Her research so far has generated 20 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals including Biomaterials and Acta Biomaterialia and authored 3 book chapters. Her research on vascularized skin tissue engineering was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship by Shriners Hospitals for Children, Boston. She is also the recipient of Widener University Faculty Development Grant and Provost Grant. 

Home

FENS Dean's Office

Orta Mahalle, 34956 Tuzla, İstanbul, Türkiye

+90 216 483 96 00

© Sabancı University 2023