title: Nanoengineered Platforms to Guide Pluripotent Stem Cell Fate.
abstract: Tissue engineering utilizes cells, signaling molecules, and scaffolds towards creating functional tissue to repair damaged organs. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are a promising cell source due to their ability to self-renewal indefinitely and their potential to differentiate into almost any cell type. Great strides have been taken to parse the physiological mechanisms by which PSCs respond to their microenvironment and commit to a specific lineage. The combination of physical cues and chemical factors is thought to have the most profound influence on stem cell behavior, therefore a major focus of tissue engineering strategies is scaffold design to incorporate these signals. One overlooked component of thein vivomicroenvironment researchers attempt to recapitulate with three dimensional (3D) substrates is the nanoarchitecture formed by the fibrillar network of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. These nanoscale features have the ability to impact cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, and lineage commitment. Significant advances have been made in deciphering how these nanoscale cues interact with stem cells to determine phenotype, but much is still unknown as to how the interplay between physical and chemical signals regulatein vitroandin vivocellular fate. This review dives deeper to investigate nanoscale platforms for engineering tissue, as well use the use of these nanotechnologies to drive pluripotent stem cell lineage determination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA.
authors.forename: Katy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rutledge
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA; Biomedical Engineering Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, 29209, USA.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jabbarzadeh
keywords: Cell shape; Embryonic stem cells; Induced pluripotent stem cells; Nanotechnology; Physical signals; Stem cell microenvironment; Surface topography