PELOAcademy | Engineering Cardiac Microtissues for Cell Replacement Therapy
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be differentiated into heart muscle cells in vitro and open up new possibilities for the development of therapies for myocardial infarction. However, the transplantation of pure cardiac muscle cells from iPSCs has the disadvantage that only a small proportion of the cells remain in the tissue. The transplantation of micro-tissues containing other cardiac cell types in addition to cardiac muscle cells appears more promising. The production of these microtissues under defined, serum-free culture conditions can be carried out on a laboratory scale using established methods. However, new approaches are required for the production of micro-tissues on the scale required for (pre-)clinical research. The presentation will show approaches for the experimental production of cardiac microtissues for cell therapy.