The Pinto-do-Ó laboratory focus are the biological mechanisms that promote the cardiovascular and the hematopoietic system recovery upon damage. The heart and blood originate from a common mesodermal precursor during embryo development. However, while hematopoiesis is a stem/progenitor cell-based process that meets the demand for generation of very high cell numbers through life, the myocardium is a stem cell-devoid tissue with low turnover, and damaged cardiomyocytes are not replaced after birth. This results activation of immune cells and repair mechanisms that lead to cardiac dysfunction. Moreover, although using the regenerative power of hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow transplantation for more than half a century, we are still unable to grow these cells in vitro. Hence, we work to advance knowledge on how to expand cardiomyocytes and hematopoietic progenitors; we study these cells from their beginning in the embryo through adulthood, and in disease and aging. We use an integrative approach that combines advanced in vitro cellular systems, genetic/injury animal models, organ decellularization and state-of-the-art molecular/cellular analysis to generate basic knowledge to apply in the development of new bioengineered regenerative strategies targeted to the heart and to the blood and immune system.
Stem Cells in Regenerative Biology and Repair
