Dr. Milica Radisic is a Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto. Her lab uses organ-on-a-chip engineering to mimic physiology of the heart, kidney, and vasculature for the purpose of modeling human disease and discovering more effective drugs. In this episode, she talks about the challenges of studying the heart and strategies to mature cardiomyocytes. She also discusses using macrophages to vascularize heart-on-a-chip platforms and enhance cardiac tissue function, sustainability considerations for microfluidic chips, and how these disease models can reduce the use of lab animals. Finally, she talks about starting a company to commercialize her lab’s cardiac chip platform, the landscape for women entrepreneurs, and advice from her mentor, Dr. Bob Langer.

Human Fetal Pancreas Development – A human fetal tripotent stem/progenitor cell can expand in vitro and can generate all three pancreatic cell lineages.

Hematopoiesis over the Human Lifespan – Researchers profiled individual transcriptome states of human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells spanning gestation, maturation, and aging.

Intestinal Homeostasis – Intestinal stem cell PIEZO channels sense changes in stiffness and stretching, which controls stem cell behavior.

Cancer Risk in Aging – Aging of stem cells reduces their potential for tumorigenesis.

Image courtesy of Dr. Milica Radisic

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