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EMBO Workshop > Building networks 2024: engineering in vascular biology
May 6 - May 8
Conference overview
Blood vessels are essential for the formation and maintenance of larger tissues and organs. The vascular system regulates exchange of oxygen, nutrients and immune cells – the dysfunction of which can cause severe pathologies. Mouse models, genetics and histology of human samples, coupled with recent advances in imaging, single-cell approaches and computational modelling, have provided significant knowledge to the field of vascular biology. Yet, in vivo models are highly complex and often need to be combined with simpler in vitro studies to get mechanistic and molecular insights.
Growth of in vitro blood vessels presents numerous research challenges due to their complex 3D geometry, and a strong coupling between biology and mechanics.
Recent advances in microfluidic and 3D bioprinting offer a higher degree of control over design, system components and biological function.
With the emergence and consolidation of these technologies, together with human iPS cell technologies, the vascular biology field is starting to model vascularized tissues and human vascular diseases in vitro.
In this meeting, we intend to bring together vascular biologists and bioengineers from across the world to build research synergies to tackle long standing questions in the field of vascular biology.