Towards scaffoldless tissue engineering: Defining self organisation of embryonic cells into tissue structures

迈向无支架组织工程：将胚胎细胞的自组织定义为组织结构

• 批准号: 1902645
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1902645
• 关键词: Towards; scaffoldless; tissue; engineering; Defining

Self-organisation is a widespread phenomenon in biology, one such example being the striking morphogenetic movements and alterations in cell fate during gastrulation leading to a multi layered structure consisting of three distinct germ layers. A predominant morphogenetic event of gastrulation is elongation by convergent extension. Convergent extension is a key developmental process, yet little is known about the cues that drive the cellular movements responsible for this morphogenesis. Studies in Xenopus have revealed a unique opportunity to mimic and study convergent extension using an activin-induced mesodermal cell aggregate system. In this system tissue polarity was initially completely abolished and then reconstituted to recapitulate convergent extension. This project aims to define clearly the necessary and sufficient mechanisms which establish self-organization in activin treated cell aggregates giving rise to tissue elongation. This will be achieved through a combination of experimental and computational work exploring how convergent extension is cued in this system and by what mechanism this elongation takes place. Such knowledge is crucial to be able to harness these cues during tissue organisation. This will be a key step in enabling regenerative biology to reach its full therapeutic potential.

自组织是生物学中的一种普遍现象，其中一个例子是原肠形成过程中显著的形态发生运动和细胞命运的变化，导致了由三个不同的胚层组成的多层结构。原肠形成的主要形态发生事件是由收敛伸长引起的伸长。汇聚延伸是一个关键的发育过程，但人们对导致这种形态发生的细胞运动的线索知之甚少。在非洲爪哇的研究揭示了使用激活素诱导的中胚层细胞聚集系统来模拟和研究收敛延伸的独特机会。在这个系统中，组织的极性最初被完全消除，然后被重组，以概括会聚的延伸。这个项目的目的是清楚地定义在激活素处理的细胞聚集体中建立自组织的必要和充分的机制，从而引起组织伸长。这将通过实验和计算相结合的工作来实现，探索在这个系统中如何暗示收敛延伸以及这种延伸是通过什么机制发生的。这样的知识对于能够在组织组织过程中利用这些线索至关重要。这将是使再生生物学充分发挥其治疗潜力的关键一步。