Liver Tissue Development and Engineering The liver plays a vital role in human health, including the detoxification of foreign substances. We use stem cells to grow liver tissue in the laboratory. The stem cells we use are called human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. The attraction of using these cell populations is their indefinite growth in the lab and their ability to form all the cells found in the human body. We have developed reliable methods for building human liver tissue. Encouragingly, it behaves in a similar way to the liver found in the human body. We believe our liver tissue has an important part to play in improving human drug development and repurposing; modelling human disease and in the future may provide an alternative source of human tissue to treat failing human liver function. Professor David Hay Group Leader Contact details Website: Personal Profile Email: david.hay@ed.ac.uk Image Professor Dave Hay and his research group Research aimsTo develop informative human liver models produced from pluripotent stem cellsTo develop implantable human liver tissue derived from pluripotent stem cellsTo develop synthetic and natural materials for tissue engineering purposesProfessor Hay recently wrote an article on careers in science for Futurum Careers. Publications Publications In the newsThe Naked Scientist - Artificial liver progress. 05 Aug 20The Naked Scientist - The Future of artificial livers, 20 Aug 20Growing human liver cells "in a dish"FT article, Nov 19The Naked Scientist Podcast, 26 Nov 19Scottish Dail Mail - Liver transplant article, 28 Aug 18Futurum Careers articleFT article, 2018Stem Cell Innovator Group membersDewi Jones, PhD StudentAlvile Kasarinaite, PhD StudentFatma Kok, Postdoctoral Stem Cell ScientistKasia Stefaniak, PhD StudentFundersMRCUKRMPInnovate UKAstellas Institute for Regenerative MedicineNovo NordiskCollaboratorsWe work collaboratively with a number of groups in Edinburgh:Stuart Forbes, Mark Bradley, Anthony Callanan, Mandy Drake, Colin Campbell, Carsten Hansen, Anura Rambukana and Bruno PeaultWe collaborate with other researchers in the UK and overseas:Fiona Watt, Anil Dhawan, and Giovanna Lombardi, King’s College LondonJan Hengstler, University of DortmundLijian Hui, Shanghai Institutes for Biological SciencesRon Hay, University of DundeeCliona O’Farrelly, Trinity College DublinJo Mountford, University of GlasgowMichael Themis, Brunel UniversityWill Shu, Strathclyde UniversityOur industry partners include:Ruchi Sharma, StemnovateKristian Tryggvason, BiolaminaDominic Williams, Astra Zeneca Charis Segeritz-Walko – StemCell Technologies This article was published on 2024-02-26