Tailoring Biomaterials for Stem Cell Biology

This lecture delves into the engineering of artificial stem cell niches, exploring the control of stem cell 'fates' by the niche environment, the cues involved, and the importance of cell-cell interactions. It discusses the challenges in capturing the complexity of stem cell-niche interactions in vitro and the development of artificial niches using a systems biology approach. The lecture also covers the screening of biomaterials for stem cell culture systems, the combinatorial development of biomaterials for clonal growth of stem cells, and the fabrication of microarrayed artificial niches. Furthermore, it explores the use of hydrogel substrates to generate artificial niche microarrays and the construction of artificial niches from molecular building blocks.