Mur Mitoyen
Polytechnique Montréal - Pavillon Lassonde
Christopher Moraes, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
McGill University
In addition to genes and proteins, physical factors in the microenvironment play a pivotal role in driving cell and tissue function. Ignoring these complex factors in conventional tissue culture systems makes the translational utility of in vitro cultures uncertain. Christopher Moraes lab focuses on reconstructing realistic miniature versions of biological tissues, using a variety of microengineering technologies. These ‘on-a-chip’ systems may ultimately be used to predict disease progression, stratify patient risk groups, and identify potential therapeutic strategies. More immediately however, the throughput, precision and dimensions of tissues engineered at this length scale provide a remarkable capacity to ‘watch’ biology happen in unique ways. For example, mechanical forces are now known to play a pivotal role in tissue homeostasis and disease progression, but our technical capacity to watch mechanics evolve in 3D tissues undergoing complex remodeling is severely limited. In this talk, Christopher Moraes will describe recent and ongoing work in which his group develops strategies to recreate the 3D tissue microenvironment, construct dynamic ‘maps’ of tissue mechanics during morphogenetic disease programs, and leverage this understanding to develop drug screening and cell therapy platforms.
Christopher Moraes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and the Goodman Cancer Center at McGill University; and a Canada Research Chair (II) in Advanced Cellular Microenvironments. He initially trained in nanoengineering, before conducting graduate research in mechanical and biomedical Engineering (U. Toronto), and holding a Banting postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan’s Biointerfaces Institute. His research program makes use of this broad background to study the interface between engineering, biology and medicine, and he is particularly curious about the role microenvironmental biomechanical forces play in driving disease and development. Recent honours include the NSERC Howard Alper postdoctoral prize, and the Leyerle-CIFAR prize for interdisciplinary research.
