research themes:
(i) minimal engineering approaches that guide lung epithelial organoid self-organization and assembly
(ii) microengineered hydrogels to recreate aspects of the complex pulmonary niche
Relevant papers:
Loebel, C., Weiner, A.I., Katzen, J.B., Morley, M.P., Bala, V., Cardenas-Diaz, F.L., Davidson, M.D., Shiraishi, K., Basil, M.C., Ochs, M., Beers, M.F., Morrisey, E.E., Vaughan, A.E., Burdick, J.A. Microstructured hydrogels to guide self-assembly and function of lung alveolospheres, bioRxiv
Zepp, J.A., Morley, M.P., Loebel, C., Kremp, M.M., Chaudhry, F.N., Basil, M.C., Leach, J.P., Liberti, D.C., Niethamer, T.K., Ying, Y., Jayachandran, S., Babu, AS. Zhou, S., Frank, D.B., Burdick, J.A., Morrisey, E.E., Genomic, Epigenomic, and Biophysical Cues Controlling the Emergence of the Lung Alveolus, Science, in press.
Zepp JA, Zacharias, WJ, Frank DB, Cavanaugh CA, Zhou S, Morley MP and Morrisey EE. (2017) Distinct mesenchymal lineages and niches promote epithelial self-renewal and myofibrogenesis in the lung. Cell 170(6): 1134-1148.e10.
Dye BR, Youngblood RL, Oakes RS, Kasputis T, Clough DW, Spence JR, Shea LD. (2020) Human lung organoids develop into adult airway-like structures directed by physico-chemical biomaterial properties. Biomaterials 119757.
Illustration: iPSC-derived alveolar type 2 cell organoids in hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels (scale bar 100 µm).