Gibco Cell Culture Hero Webinar: From Development to Regeneration: The Role of Epicardium

Presented By: Dr. Jun Jie (JJ) Tan
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Jun Jie (JJ) Tan is an Associate Professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Jun Jie’s background is in Biomedical Sciences (BSc, Universiti Putra Malaysia), and his doctoral training at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (2011), research visiting at King’s College London (2014), and postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2018) have been assets for his research in stem cell biology, tissue engineering, and heart regeneration. Jun Jie’s long-term goal is to realize heart cell therapy and myocardial tissue engineering using human-induced pluripotent stem cells, paving the way for repairing and rebuilding the lost myocardium in patients with severe heart infarction. His current work focuses on identifying and manufacturing cells relevant to heart morphogenesis to create mature heart tissue that can be used for therapy, drug testing, and disease modeling.

Webinar: Gibco Cell Culture Hero Webinar: From Development to Regeneration: The Role of Epicardium
Webinar Abstract:
Embryonic epicardium is crucial for normal heart morphogenesis. The tissue originates from the proepicardial organ, with cells migrating to form the outer mesothelial layer, giving rise to non-myocyte cells during early heart development. The epicardium's formation is crucial for myocardial growth and compaction, as well as the embryonic heart's coronary vessel development. These capabilities are useful for engineering mature myocardial tissue in vitro. Recent research shows that human-induced pluripotent stem cells can differentiate into embryonic epicardial cells through specific signaling pathways during in vitro development. Here, we present a simple differentiation protocol to derive a premature form of epicardial cells (or pre-epicardial cells, PECs) from the lateral plate mesoderm, followed by stimulation with BMP4, VEGF, and retinoic acid. The differentiated PECs express WT-1 and ZO-1, exhibiting typical epicardial cell features, including the ability to undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition and differentiate into fibroblast and smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, PECs can aggregate and stimulate cardiomyocyte proliferation in coculture via the insulin-like growth factor-2 signaling pathway. Furthermore, PECs also show the ability to aggregate and induce proliferation of cardiomyocytes in coculture through the insulin-like growth factor-2 signaling pathway. In a three-dimensional culture, PECs promote the formation of vessel-like structures in CM microtissues, complete with defined smooth muscle and endothelial linings. These characteristics suggest the significant role of PECs in organizing cardiac tissue, presenting promising applications in tissue engineering and therapeutics.

Learning Objectives
Understanding the significance of embryonic epicardium
Learn about the differentiation protocol for generating PECs from lateral plate mesoderm.
Gain insights into the potential applications of PECs in tissue engineering and therapeutic contexts.
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