Ep. 289: “Heart-Forming Organoids” Featuring Dr. Robert Zweigerdt

Guest:

Dr. Robert Zweigerdt is a Principal Investigator at Hannover Medical School, where his lab focuses on cardiac differentiation and the scalable culture of PSCs. He talks about regulating the lineage-specific differentiation of hPSCs and generating heart-forming organoids that mirror developmental cardiogenesis. He also discusses the importance of mentorship and the benefits of an international research group.

Featured Products and Resources:

• Register now for ISSCR 2025, taking place June 11-14 in Hong Kong!
• Use STEMCELL’s STEMdiff™ Cardiomyocyte media and supplements to differentiate, enrich, expand, and cryopreserve functional hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes.

The Stem Cell Science Round Up

Dissecting Mouse Embryo Models – Researchers used deep learning to classify and dissect the experimental variability of stem cell-derived embryo models.

Human Brain Evolution – Scientists used CRISPR interference to characterize human accelerated regions of the human genome and their chimpanzee orthologues.

Preventing Skin Scarring – Verteporfin, a YAP inhibitor, promotes scarless healing and wound regeneration in pigs.

Modeling Pulmonary Fibrosis – Induced respiratory airway progenitors provide a model for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis drug discovery and validation.

Image courtesy of Dr. Robert Zweigerdt