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SUMMARY:Bioengineered platforms for the measurement of force production of
  single hiPSC-cardiomyocytes in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy cardiomyopathy
DTSTART:20190219T150000
DTEND:20190219T160000
DTSTAMP:20260916T050234Z
UID:6651f84b07cc0ac08a543b4bf52536410b33ac227a6cd315e30b0bfe
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Gaspard Pardon\n\nBaxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology\n
 Stanford University\, USA\n\n \nDuchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a X-recess
 ive genetic disease affecting 1 in 3500 boys\, culminating with cardiac fa
 ilure around age 30. This disease results from more than 200 possible muta
 tions on a single gene coding for the dystrophin\, an important structural
  protein linking the intracellular skeleton to the extracellular matrix. S
 uch dystrophin deficiency readily generates severe muscle degeneration dur
 ing the first years of life\, while cardiac symptoms appear abruptly only 
 later\, with dilation of the cardiac ventricle and contractile dysfunction
  affecting the pumping capacity of the heart.\n\nFor many years\, cardiova
 scular research has been limited by the lack of appropriate in-vitro model
 s. Human cardiac tissue and cells are scarce and cannot be maintained in c
 ulture for long periods\, while animal models fail to recapitulate many as
 pects of the human heart biology.\n\nTo study the cellular mechanisms invo
 lved in the onset and progression of this disease\, we combine two novel t
 echnologies: cardiac cells from patient-derived induced pluripotent stem c
 ell (hiPSC) and bioengineered micropatterned hydrogel platforms. The later
  enable the measurement of force production of single cardiomyocytes under
  controlled microphysiological conditions\, while the former offers unprec
 edented insights in the disease cellular biology using human isogenic cell
  line\, with dystrophin mutations introduced or corrected using CRISPR/Cas
 9.\n\nIn this talk\, I will present preliminary results as well as current
  efforts in our study of the molecular and biomechanical mechanisms involv
 ed in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy cardiomyopathy.\n\nBiography:\nBorn in S
 witzerland\, Dr. Gaspard Pardon graduated with a MSc in Microengineering f
 rom EPFL in 2008\, after which he moved to KTH Royal Institute of Technolo
 gy in Stockholm\, Sweden\, where he obtained a PhD in Electrical Engineeri
 ng - Micro and Nanosytems in 2014. The focus of his graduate work was on t
 he engineering of novel micro- and nanofluidic technologies for point-of-c
 are diagnostics with a special focus on electrokinetic phenomena in fluids
 \, polymer engineering\, and surface control and modification.\n\nAfter a 
 first postdoctoral experience at KTH\, he moved to Stanford University for
  a postdoc supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF). After
  two years in the Microsystems and Mechanobiology laboratory of Prof. Beth
  L. Pruitt where he worked on microengineered platforms and hiPSC-cardiomy
 ocytes as in-vitro cardiac models\, he joined the Baxter Laboratory for St
 em Cell Biology of Prof. Helen M. Blau where he applies his technology to 
 the study of genetic cardiomyopathies.\n\n 
LOCATION:BM 1130 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BM%201130
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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