Research Seminar: “Engineering Cells with Synthetic Biology Molecular Tools to Control Their Behavior for Basic Research and Regenerative Medicine Applications”

Speaker: Leonardo Morsut, PhD, Assistant Professor, Broad CIRM Center and Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine
Talk Summary: During embryonic development, complex multicellular tissues form based on genetically encoded algorithms that specify how cells will behave both individually and collectively. In a recent series of experiments, they have engineered and characterized a family of orthogonal cell-cell communication pathways, inspired by the mechanism of the contact-dependent pathway Notch, which allows a cell to detect molecular signals from its neighbors and, in response, to induce user-specified transcriptional programs. These synthetic Notch pathways provide multiple novel channels for engineering cell-cell communication. Developmental trajectories of cell sorting are built with the synNotch pathways in vitro. Dr. Morsut will describe current focus research areas in the lab based on this approach for cardiac organoids vascularization as well as cell therapy for bone regeneration. He will conclude by speculating on what possible shifts in paradigm these technol ogies can bring in developmental biology and regenerative medicine research.
Hosted by D. Brent Polk, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, Vice Dean for Child Health – USC, University of Southern California and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles