Cell Therapy Lab

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MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine

The Cell Therapy Lab at Maastricht University is led by Dr Vanessa LaPointe.

Welcome to our research group, where we're dedicated to developing groundbreaking regenerative cell therapies that can transform the lives of patients suffering from chronic diseases. By combining expertise in biology, medicine, and engineering, the lab is proud to work on the whole spectrum of fundamental research to translational activities necessary to both discover and develop cell therapies.

Our areas of expertise include

Stem cell differentiation

Using small soluble molecules, biomaterials, and other approaches, we direct multipotent and pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into functioning tissue-specific adult cells.

Three-dimensional tissues

By borrowing principles from developmental biology, we explore how cell–cell contact and self-organization can be manipulated to build functional mini-tissues and organoids.

Methodology

We use advanced light and electron microscopy to gain high-quality single-cell information, and we develop methods to work in 3D cell cultures, which better mimic the in vivo situation.

Although we're a "tissue-agnostic" group that organizes around research questions and methodology, our greatest focus is on the anterior segment of the eye (corneal epithelium and endothelium, sclera, conjunctiva). We also collaborate on ongoing research on the kidney, pancreas, and bone.

Thank you for visiting our website, and we look forward to sharing our work with you.