The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to present a seminar by Jianping Fu, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Fu will present a seminar titled "Bioengineered Human Embryo and Organ Models as the New Frontier."
Early human development remains largely mysterious and challenging to study. In this talk, I will describe our efforts to harness human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and bioengineering approaches to create controllable models of human peri-gastrulation development and early organogenesis. These models recapitulate key in vivo developmental landmarks, including amniotic cavity formation, amniotic ectoderm-epiblast patterning, primordial germ cell specification, embryonic germ layer organization, yolk sac formation, and primitive hematopoiesis. Our current work focuses on using these controllable models as experimental platforms to dissect the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying cell fate decisions, tissue patterning, and self-organization during human peri-gastrulation.
I will also discuss our application of bioengineering tools and hPSCs to model critical aspects of early human neural development, including neural patterning in both brain and spinal cord regions, along rostrocaudal and dorsoventral axes. Ongoing projects further aim to model key features of human heart and gut tube development, as well as somitogenesis. Together, these efforts have established a suite of bioengineered human embryo and organ models with in vivo-like spatiotemporal cell differentiation and organization, providing powerful platforms for studying human development, physiology, and disease.
Dr. Jianping Fu is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Fu’s research integrates bioengineering, stem cell biology, and developmental biology to advance our understanding of human development and disease. His work has made foundational contributions to the creation of stem cell-based embryo and organ models, most notably establishing the first three-dimensional human embryo model (Nature Communications, 2017; Nature, 2019) and the first patterned, three-dimensional human neural tube model containing both brain and spinal cord regions (Nature, 2024). Dr. Fu received major awards from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He is an elected Fellow of AAAS, AIMBE, RSC, ASME, IAMBE, and BMES. Beyond his research, Dr. Fu is deeply engaged in scientific leadership and service. He served on the ISSCR Guidelines Working Group and now chairs the ISSCR Scientific Programs Committee. In recognition of his service, he received the ISSCR Public Service Award in 2025. He is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of npj Regenerative Medicine and serves on editorial boards of several journals including Cell Stem Cell and Biophysical Journal.
