Engineering perspective in Biomedical Research
Camilla Luni
Research Associate Professor, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies (SIAIS) - ShanghaiTech University, China
Lunedì 29 Luglio 2019
ore 15
DICAM sede di via Terracini 28 - sala TA 1.030 (Sala del Consiglio)
Abstract: Cellular systems can be seen as miniaturized engineered systems with extreme complexity due to the overlap of multiple levels of molecular regulation on different temporal and spatial scales. At the same time, cells are not isolated systems; rather they interact with their surrounding microenvironment and modify their behavior accordingly. The relevance of this interaction is even more pronounced in the case of stem cells, i.e. cells that are not completely committed to be a specific tissue cell type and that still have a plasticity to be pushed into different directions according to external stimuli. In this talk, I will show through examples how engineering can give important contributions in different directions of biomedical research if integrated with more traditional sciences in the field. Engineering provides technologies, such as microfluidics, to shape and perturb the environment around the cells with high temporal and spatial resolution. Microtechnologies can help mimicking specific environmental stimuli that are normally absent in conventional large-scale culture conditions. Moreover, cell culture system downscale offers the opportunity to study how cells themselves modify the microenvironment surrounding them, due to an accumulation of cell-secreted molecules. On a different viewpoint, with the advent of high-throughput technologies, a comprehensive approach for the study of biological systems starts to be feasible. Cells and their microenvironment can be profiled for their whole repertoire of RNA molecules and proteins with high accuracy. A big challenge is now how to extract useful information from this massive amount of data, especially in presence of high biological variability. Overall, technological devices and methodologies of big data analysis have fully entered the field of biomedical research, for basic science studies and so-called "precision medicine" applications.