Tissue Regeneration and Disease Modeling Group

The overall aim of the group is to explore the potential of pluripotent stem cell (PSC) derivatives for tissue regeneration and in vitro disease modelling. In particular, we focus on cardiac repair and aim at enhancing the long-term functional integration of ESC and iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) in the infarcted heart, understanding the immunological properties of PSC-CMs, and developing clinically compatible technologies for non-invasive tracking of transplanted cells. In our iPSC-based disease modelling projects we focus on inherited cardiomyopathies. The goal of these model systems is to elucidate the mechanism of disease and ultimately develop safer and more effective therapies for these incurable disorders. To this end, the group has contributed more than 70 disease-specific and control iPSC lines to the “European Bank of induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (EBiSC) within a collaborative project that was funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI).