Breadcrumb

null Darcy Wagner, PhD

Senior Scientist, RI-MUHC, Glen site

Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program

Centre for Translational Biology

 

Keywords

bioengineering • lung regeneration • biomaterials • stem cells • bioprinting • microfluidics • light sheet fluorescence microscopy

Research Focus

My research focuses on how the extracellular environment directs stem cell behavior for endogenous and exogenous lung tissue regeneration. We use a multidisciplinary approach using advances in materials science (polymer design and synthesis), manufacturing (e.g., 3D bioprinting), and endogenous and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived lung stem cells to construct these new models. The main areas of interest of the lab are:

Design and use of biologic (acellular) and synthetic scaffolds in diverse manufacturing approaches to bioengineer new lung tissue for transplantation.

Understand the role of the extracellular matrix in directing lung stem cell behaviour in vivo and ex vivo during regeneration (normal and pathologic).

Build and validate new models of human lung tissue and chronic lung disease to reduce animal usage and for use as drug discovery and therapeutic screening platforms.

Selected Publications

Click on Pubmed to see my current publications list

  • Gvazava et al. Label-Free High-Resolution Photothermal Optical Infrared Spectroscopy for Spatiotemporal Chemical Analysis in Fresh, Hydrated Living Tissues and Embryos. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2023, 145 (45): 24796–24808.

  • Ptasinski et al. Modeling fibrotic alveolar transitional cells with pluripotent stem cell-derived alveolar organoids. Life Science Alliance. 2023, 6(8):e202201853. PMID: 37230801.

  • Da Silva et al. Formalin-free fixation and xylene-free tissue processing preserves cell-hydrogel interactions for histological evaluation of 3D calcium alginate tissue engineered constructs. Front Biomaterial Science 2023, 2:1155919.

  • Alsafadi et al. Simultaneous isolation of proximal and distal lung progenitor cells from individual mice using a 3D printed guide reduces proximal cell contamination of distal lung epithelial cell isolations. Stem Cell Rep 2022, 17(12): 2718-2731. PMID: 36460000.

  • De Santis et al. Extracellular matrix reinforced bioinks for 3D bioprinting human tissue. Adv Materials 2021, 33(3):2005476. PMID: 33300242.