Molecular definition of cellular states in the vascular endothelium

内皮细胞是形成血管的主要细胞类型，跨越从干/祖细胞到各种终末分化细胞的多种细胞状态。这些细胞状态是如何在分子水平上定义的尚不清楚，从而阻碍了生物工程组织中血管的最佳形成和整合。利用创新的单细胞基因表达和染色质可及性研究，结合创新分析，我们建议在分子水平上定义和验证每种细胞状态。 这一新知识将极大地增强我们控制细胞状态之间转换的能力，从而使内皮细胞在全球许多应用的组织生物工程中得到更广泛的使用。

The endothelium is the main cell type forming blood vessels and spans across multiple cell states from stem/progenitor to a variety of terminally differentiated cells. How each of these cell states are defined at the molecular level is not known preventing the optimal formation and integration of blood vessels in bioengineered tissues. Using innovative single cell gene expression and chromatin accessibility studies combined with innovative analysis, we propose to define and validate each cell state at the molecular level. This new knowledge would greatly enhance our ability to control the transition between cell states leading to a more widespread use of endothelial cells in bioengineering of tissues globally for many applications.