Quinton Smith
University of California-Irvine, CA·Biomedical Engineering
A single human stem cell line can, in principle, become any tissue in the body — but what it actually becomes depends heavily on its surroundings. Cells read chemical signals from neighbors and physical cues from the material they sit in, and current lab methods control both poorly.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Biology
Engineering
- Topics
induced pluripotent stem cells
iPSC
organoids
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Test how paracrine signals and mechanical cues guide early cell fate decisions, using micropatterned induced gastrulation models of human induced pluripotent stem cells confined to defined geometries.
- Dissect communication between cells of different germ layers during tissue specification by combining assembloid technologies with synthetic extracellular matrix mimics that replace batch-variable Matrigel.
- Determine how dynamic flow in microfluidic culture affects self-organization and functional maturation of iPSC-derived tissues, including microvascular and stromal populations.
- Apply improved iPSC derivatives as patient-specific models to probe individual differences in metabolic disorders.
More about the research
This project asks how those chemical and mechanical cues together steer early human cell fate, with the goal of making stem-cell-derived tissues that behave more like real ones.
Why it matters
Better stem cell models would let researchers watch human development in a dish and test how a specific patient's cells go wrong in metabolic disease, something animal models capture poorly. Defining which chemical and mechanical cues drive maturation also addresses a practical barrier to regenerative medicine, where iPSC-derived tissues are often too immature or too variable to be clinically useful.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mark Grimes
University of Montana, MT·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether seeding human neural crest stem cells in 3D hydrogel scaffolds with extracellular matrix components identified in organoids makes craniofacial cartilage faster and more reproducibly than self-organizing organoids.
Sung Eun Kim
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Biomedical Engineering
Test how loss of GPR161, a gene strongly linked to spina bifida, changes how neuromesodermal progenitors form the spinal neural tube, using knockout human iPSC-derived 3D organoids.
Michael Blatchley
Syracuse University, NY·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Test how light-triggered softening or stiffening of a PEG hydrogel matrix changes the cell-type makeup and maturation of iPSC-derived intestinal epithelial organoids over time.
The school
University of California-Irvine: 46 labs on PI Pages, $645M a year on research, 524 research doctorates a year.
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