CardiacCell FateDisease modelingISSCR

Ep. 333: “Shaping Cell Fate” Featuring Drs. Anupama Hemalatha and Verena Schwach

By October 27, 2026No Comments

Guest:

This special episode, created in partnership with the ISSCR Early Career Advisory Committee, features two rising leaders in stem cell research. Dr. Anupama Hemalatha, a Junior Group Leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, discusses how cellular metabolism shapes stem cell behavior, tissue homeostasis, and responses to cancer-associated mutations. Dr. Verena Schwach, an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente, explores how stem cell-derived tissues and organ-on-chip technologies can model heart–brain interactions and advance disease modeling and drug safety testing.

If you’d like to nominate yourself or a colleague for our Early Career Researcher Series, submit your nomination here.

Featured Products and Resources:

The Stem Cell Science Round Up

Mapping Early Human Organogenesis – Spatial transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling maps early human organ development, revealing distinct cell populations and molecular programs involved in tissue specification.

Totipotent-Like Cells Recreate Mouse Embryogenesis – Chemically induced totipotent-like stem cells generate self-organizing mouse embryo models that progress through gastrulation and early organogenesis, including the development of functional cardiac tissue.

Improving Organoid Models – A synthetic biology approach selectively eliminates abnormal cells from stem cell-derived multicellular models, improving liver organoid maturity and embryo model development.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Drs. Anupama Hemalatha and Verena Schwach

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