Reconstructing the Stem Cell Niche: Implications for Investigating Human Development and Disease

Abstract: Miniaturization technologies inspired by the electronics industry enable engineers to build models of human physiology in so-called organs-on-a-chip. In particular, these technologies permit the control of interactions between individual cells and their physical microenvironment as well as spatial information such as gradation in chemical signals. Coupling these powerful tools with stem cell and organoid technology allows precise recreation of a tissue’s natural environment in the body. The Smith lab leverages these organon-chip model systems to uncover new biology pertaining to human development, studying how organs maintain homeostasis, become diseased, and regenerate.

Biography: Quinton Smith is an Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and holds joint appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Mexico in 2011 and his Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2017. As a graduate student, he was mentored by Dr. Sharon Gerecht and used engineering approaches to investigate the role of mechanical forces on stem cell differentiation towards vascular populations. He was named a Siebel Scholar as a graduate student, and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and a National Institutes of Health F31 fellowship supported his work. As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Smith focused on leveraging microfluidic and organoid technology to model liver development and morphogenic processes. Dr. Smith’s primary research objective at UCI is to use stem cell-based model systems to study health disparities in the context of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders.