Development of bioactive biomaterials for pluripotent stem cell arterial venous differentiation
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Authors
Dorsey, Taylor Braam
Issue Date
2016-12
Type
Electronic thesis
Thesis
Thesis
Language
ENG
Keywords
Biomedical engineering
Alternative Title
Abstract
Within the framework of this thesis, we proposed to investigate ephrinB2/EphB4 signaling with respect to vascular and arterial venous pluripotent stem cell fate in vitro, specifically utilizing biomaterial approaches to mimic cell-cell signaling. PEG hydrogel photochemistry was optimized to create bioactive platforms with the potential to spatially-control the immobilization proteins or peptides. We successfully created distinct arterial venous EC populations derived from pluripotent stem cells using a combination of immobilized and soluble biochemical cues and thoroughly characterized these populations for phenotypic functionality. EphrinB2 signaling mechanisms during differentiation in vitro and furthermore how multivalency plays a role was explored. Overall, the findings of this thesis will help further our understandings of arterial venous specification, highlight the importance of phenotypic-specific ECs and provide novel biomaterial approaches to control stem cell fate.
Description
December 2016
School of Engineering
School of Engineering
Full Citation
Publisher
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY