Stem Cell Technologies

The human heart is a remarkably complex organ composed of a diverse array of cell types, all working in perfect synchrony to sustain life. At IMTTS, we harness the power of human hiPSCs to generate key cardiac cell types (cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts and endothelial cells), that form the foundation of our research. These high-quality, stem cell-derived cells are used for a wide range of applications, including disease modeling, compound screening, and toxicity testing, offering a human-relevant alternative to traditional models. To further enhance the translational impact of our work, we have developed an advanced human cardiac organoid platform. These scaffold-free, multicellular organoids bridge the gap between conventional 2D in vitro systems and in vivo studies. They are composed of self-assembling cardiac cells derived from hiPSCs, either alone or in combination with other human primary cell lines, allowing for finely tuned cellular compositions that more closely mimic native heart tissue. This cutting-edge platform enables more physiologically relevant modeling of cardiovascular diseases and supports personalized medicine approaches. By using patient-specific hiPSC lines, we can recreate and study individual disease phenotypes, paving the way for more targeted therapies and improved understanding of heart disease at the cellular level.

Key references:

Costa A, Hunkler HJ, Chatterjee S, Cushman S, Hilbold E, Xiao K, Lu D, Leonardy J, Juchem M, Sansonetti M, Hoepfner J, Thum T, Bär C. (2024) A reporter system for live cell tracking of human cardiomyocyte proliferation. Cardiovasc Res. 120(14):1660-1663. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvae175

Hunkler HJ, Hoepfner J, Huang CK, Chatterjee S, Jara-Avaca M, Gruh I, Bolesani E, Zweigerdt R, Thum T, Bär C. (2020) The Long Non-coding RNA Cyrano Is Dispensable for Pluripotency of Murine and Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Stem Cell Reports 15(1):13-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2020.05.011

Hunkler HJ, Groß S, Thum T, Bär C. (2022) Non-coding RNAs: key regulators of reprogramming, pluripotency, and cardiac cell specification with therapeutic perspective for heart regeneration. Cardiovasc Res. 118(15):3071-3084. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvab335  

Mohr E, Thum T, Bär C. (2022) Accelerating cardiovascular research: recent advances in translational 2D and 3D heart models. Eur J Heart Fail. 24(10):1778-1791. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.2631

Neufeldt D, Schmidt A, Mohr E, Lu D, Chatterjee S, Fuchs M, Xiao K, Pan W, Cushman S, Jahn C, Juchem M, Hunkler HJ, Cipriano G, Jürgens B, Schmidt K, Groß S, Jung M, Hoepfner J, Weber N, Foo R, Pich A, Zweigerdt R, Kraft T, Thum T, Bär C. (2024) Circular RNA circZFPM2 regulates cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and survival. Basic Res Cardiol. 119(4):613-632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00395-024-01048-y

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