Eyckmans Lab
Jeroen Eyckmans is a Research Assistant Professor at Boston University. He obtained his PhD in Medical Sciences at KULeuven in Belgium.
Prof. Eyckmans’s research program aims to understands the mechanical and biochemical mechanisms that drive tissue repair (scarring) versus tissue regeneration in response to injury. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining microfabrication, nanotechnology and molecular biology, his group develops novel biomimetic models to study wound closure and extracellular matrix remodeling of soft (skin, tendon, ligament) and mineralized (bone, teeth) tissues. Ultimately, the goal is to harness tissue repair and regeneration mechanisms to rationally design targeted tissue engineering strategies for the healing of musculoskeletal tissues after injury.
Projects
Characterization of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) on the Single-Cell and Tissue Level(2019)
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In this project, the student will study hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) at the single cell and tissue level using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs).
At the single-cell level, the student will work on a project comparing the force distribution in HCM mutated cells to wild type cells when patterned in different aspect ratios and sizes. In this project, the student will stem cell culture, cardiomyocyte differentiation, learn cell patterning skills and about how fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) works.
At the tissue level, the student will learn to fabricate cardiac millitissues using iPSC-CMs and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The main project for the summer will be to characterize and compare the composition and structure of these tissues, including that
of the cells and extracellular matrix. This project will allow the student to learn a variety of skills, including microfabrication, immunohistochemistry, image analysis, and PCR.
LABORATORY MENTOR
Jourdan Ewoldt
RESEARCH GOALS
This project has two research goals:
1. Characterizing force distribution in HCM mutated cells compared to isogenic control cells
2. Characterizing the cell and tissue structure of engineered cardiac microtissues maded with HCM mutated cells and isogenic control cells.
LEARNING GOALS
The student will learn how to
1. Expand and differentiate human IPSCs into cardiomyocytes
2. Pattern cardiomyocyte on 2D substrates
3. assemble cardiac microtissues and characterize the tissue structure using immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy and image analysis.
