Engineering Connections: combining stem cells, imaging & engineering to understand human neurobiology and neurodegenerative diseases

Stem cell-based models can effectively recapitulate several aspects of development in vitro, allowing to better understand the biological mechanisms underpinning human biology and human disease in a systematic way. Particularly for the field of neurobiology and neurodegeneration, access to these models has been invaluable.

However, conventional cultures do not recapitulate well cell shape, and overlook some of the engineering constraints that cells in vivo have adapted to.
The Serio lab focuses on uncovering the intricate relationship between shape and function in neural cells, trying to understand the 'engineering principles' behind neurons, astrocytes and neuronal circuits, and -more importantly- how can these be included in the experimental platforms used to model neurobiology in vitro.
Recent work from the lab includes novel discoveries on how axonal length in vitro can be modelled, how astrocyte shape influences their function, and novel engineering platforms to model human neuronal circuits at scale.