title: Reverse engineering the mechanical and molecular pathways in stem cell morphogenesis.
abstract: The formation of relevant biological structures poses a challenge for regenerative medicine. During embryogenesis, embryonic cells differentiate into somatic tissues and undergo morphogenesis to produce three-dimensional organs. Using stem cells, we can recapitulate this process and create biological constructs for therapeutic transplantation. However, imperfect imitation of nature sometimes results in in vitro artifacts that fail to recapitulate the function of native organs. It has been hypothesized that developing cells may self-organize into tissue-specific structures given a correct in vitro environment. This proposition is supported by the generation of neo-organoids from stem cells. We suggest that morphogenesis may be reverse engineered to uncover its interacting mechanical pathway and molecular circuitry. By harnessing the latent architecture of stem cells, novel tissue-engineering strategies may be conceptualized for generating self-organizing transplants.
authors: Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Lu
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Gordon
authors: Tong
authors: T
authors: Cao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D023822:Tissue Engineering
keywords: embryogenesis; embryonic stem cell; mechanobiology; morphogenesis; organogenesis; reverse engineering; self-organize; tissue engineering