title: "The state of the heart": Recent advances in engineering human cardiac tissue from pluripotent stem cells.
abstract: The pressing need for effective cell therapy for the heart has led to the investigation of suitable cell sources for tissue replacement. In recent years, human pluripotent stem cell research expanded tremendously, in particular since the derivation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells. In parallel, bioengineering technologies have led to novel approaches for in vitro cell culture. The combination of these two fields holds potential for in vitro generation of high-fidelity heart tissue, both for basic research and for therapeutic applications. However, this new multidisciplinary science is still at an early stage. Many questions need to be answered and improvements need to be made before clinical applications become a reality. Here we discuss the current status of human stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes and the combined use of bioengineering approaches for cardiac tissue formation and maturation in developmental studies, disease modeling, drug testing, and regenerative medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sirabella
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cimetta
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York 10032, USA gv2131@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vunjak-Novakovic
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; D009206:Myocardium; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends
keywords: Human stem cells; cardiac differentiation; extracellular matrix; microscale platforms; molecular induction; paracrine factors