Dr. Sara Vasconcelos is a Senior Scientist and the John Kitson McIvor Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research at University Health Network. She is also an Associate Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. Her lab studies microvascular regeneration in cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and are working to develop personalized patient-derived organ-chip models for drug screening and other applications. In this episode, she talks about modeling cardiac fibrosis and studying pancreatic islet vasculature. She also discusses working with microchips and with large animal models.

Gene Editing Lung Stem Cells – Scientists used a lipid nanoparticle delivery system to correct mutations in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis.

Trophectoderm Expansion – The polar trophectoderm thickens substantially before the expected time of implantation.

Liver Regeneration – Mouse hepatocytes required a functional electron transport chain to proliferate and compete with wild-type hepatocytes during liver regeneration.

Revascularizing Limbs – Proangiogenic/arteriogenic monocytes increased circulation in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia.

Image courtesy of Dr. Sara Vasconcelos

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