Abstract

Early human development remains largely mysterious and challenging to study. In this talk, I will describe our efforts to harness human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and bioengineering approaches to create controllable models of human peri-gastrulation development and early organogenesis. These models recapitulate key in vivo developmental landmarks, including amniotic cavity formation, amniotic ectoderm-epiblast patterning, primordial germ cell specification, embryonic germ layer organization, yolk sac formation, and primitive hematopoiesis. Our current work focuses on using these controllable models as experimental platforms to dissect the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying cell fate decisions, tissue patterning, and self-organization during human peri-gastrulation.

I will also discuss our application of bioengineering tools and hPSCs to model critical aspects of early human neural development, including neural patterning in both brain and spinal cord regions, along rostrocaudal and dorsoventral axes. Ongoing projects further aim to model key features of human heart and gut tube development, as well as somitogenesis. Together, these efforts have established a suite of bioengineered human embryo and organ models with in vivo-like spatiotemporal cell differentiation and organization, providing powerful platforms for studying human development, physiology, and disease.

Short Bio

Jianping Fu, PhD is a professor of Engineering and Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan. His research integrates micro/nanoengineering, single-cell technologies, and synthetic biology tools with mechanobiology, stem cell biology, and developmental biology to advance our understanding of human development, function and disease. Dr. Fu's research has made significant contributions to these areas: stem cell-based embryo models, stem cell bioengineering, mechanobiology, and micro/nanofluidics.