Humboldt Research Award winner visits TU Darmstadt
Professor Milica Radisic researches at “FLOW FOR LIFE”
2024/06/25
Professor Milica Radisic from the University of Toronto is an international leader in the field of cardiac tissue engineering and organ-on-a-chip technology as well as the development of new biomaterials that promote tissue healing and attenuate scarring. As part of a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Radisic will now be a guest at TU Darmstadt in July. At the LOEWE research cluster “FLOW FOR LIFE”, she will work together with TU Professor Ulrike Nuber and other colleagues on the development of vascularised tissue models. In the interview, she talks about her research projects and goals.
My field of research is fascinating. The best way to explain it to non-specialists is…
My work focuses on building human tissues in the lab, starting from stem cells, with specific focus on the heart muscle. Human heart cells cannot replicate on their own, limiting the progress in discovery of new therapeutics and regenerative medicine. Using patient derived cells, my lab developed approaches to build adult-like human heart tissue for drug and therapeutics discovery. This technology has far-reaching applications in chemistry, biology, engineering and ultimately medicine.
What research questions are you currently working on?
I direct a research program focused on engineering microenvironments for cardiovascular regeneration. We work with cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells and design microfabricated systems for their maturation. We are engineering vascularized and perfusable models of human heart, liver and tumor tissue for drug discovery and safety testing. An important aspect of our research is the development of new elastic and immunomodulatory materials polymers.
What is your most important research success to date?
My most important contributions lie in the development of heart-on-a-chip models that better predict human responses to drugs and chemicals, thereby advancing precision testing approaches and reducing reliance on animal testing. I have advanced the field by developing new polymer composites suitable for 3D printing of organ-on-a-chip devices, enabling rapid device fabrication and pioneering electrical stimulation for cell maturation.
Humboldt Research Award for Professor Milica Radisic
Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation honours up to 100 leading international researchers from all disciplines from abroad for their overall achievements to date with the Humboldt Research Award, which is endowed with 60,000 euros. The award winners are also invited to carry out research projects of their own choice at an academic institution in Germany together with their peers there.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation presented Milica Radisic with the prestigious research award in 2023. She was nominated for the award by Professor Ulrike Nuber from the Department of Biology at TU Darmstadt. In addition to Radisic's stay in July 2024, further research stays at TU Darmstadt are planned for the coming years.
Will the results of your research have a concrete impact on our everyday lives now or at some later date?
Our work will enable the discovery of safer and more effective medicines as well as decrease animal use in drug testing and discovery. Our technology provides a human-cell based platform to evaluate the physiological effects of drugs and chemicals on human tissues and organs. Animal models often fail to capture human genetic diversity and physiological responses, which can be overcome using our technology.
What innovative developments are you expecting in your field of research in the next few years?
I am looking forward to the time when 3D tissues will become a mainstream research model in scientific discovery. We can already see a transformation, where more and more cardiac laboratories are using some kind of 3D tissue. I anticipate more models to be adopted and become essentially a common assay. This will enable us to generate the wealth of knowledge about building high-fidelity functional tissues that will ultimately transform human therapy and power regenerative medicine.
What motivated you to become a scientist?
Even as a young child I was mesmerised by the wonder and magic of the natural world around us. If I looked at the night sky, kaleidoscope or a microscope, a magical image would emerge. It is the magic of those beautiful pictures that motivated me to become a scientist, to truly understand what is behind them.
Minisymposium "Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering" on 3 July 2024 with Professor Milica Radisic
The LOEWE research cluster “FLOW FOR LIFE” is organising the mini-symposium “Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering” with Humboldt Research Award winner Milica Radisic from the University of Toronto on Wednesday, 3 July 2024, from 13:30 to 18:00 in the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberghaus. Other speakers include Wolfram Zimmermann from the University of Göttingen, Katharina Landfester from the MPI for Polymer Research Mainz and Aranzazu del Campo from the Leibniz Institute for New Materials and the University of Saarbrücken.
In the LOEWE research cluster “FLOW FOR LIFE”, scientists at TU Darmstadt have been developing artificial supply networks for human tissues since 2022. Their research should make it possible in future to achieve a sufficient supply of nutrients and oxygen for organ-like three-dimensional cell clusters. The interdisciplinary team combines engineering and scientific expertise from five departments.
Why did you choose TU Darmstadt?
My collaborator Professor Ulrike Nuber is leading an exciting and impactful research program in stem cell and developmental biology, also relying on the use of human pluripotent stem cells. Her complementary expertise drew me to TU Darmstadt.
What reputation does German research enjoy in your home country?
In Canada, Germany is considered to be a research powerhouse, well known for centuries of both fundamental and applied landmark discoveries. It is of strategic importance for Canadian scientists to nurture and grow collaborations with German scientists.
Two questions for host Professor Ulrike Nuber (Department of Biology and LOEWE research cluster “FLOW FOR LIFE”)
What do you value most about your guest or what impresses you the most?
Milica impresses me as an extremely creative, interdisciplinary scientist with a strong desire to translate her research into biomedical applications for the benefit of patients. Moreover, I really appreciate her cooperative and supportive personality.
I admire her unique ability not only to cross disciplinary boundaries, but above all to recognize the potential that lies in the fusion of technologies, materials and principles from different fields (cell biology, engineering, medicine, chemistry, material sciences). This enables her to realize completely new biomedical engineering approaches.
How do you, your team and TU Darmstadt benefit from your guest?
We will benefit from Milica’s very strong research and expertise in the field of vascularizing tissue models and organ-on-chip engineering. The University of Toronto is a TU Darmstadt partner university and Milica will contribute to strengthen this connection.
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