Oscar Abilez PhD

My research interests are aimed at elucidating how various biophysical stimuli regulate cardiovascular development across time and length scales that span several orders of magnitude, using human pluripotent stem cells as a model system. Currently, my research focuses on applying biochemical, electrical, mechanical, and optogenetic stimulation to control and manipulate the directed differentiation, maturation, and organization of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiovascular cells. My areas of expertise are in optogenetics, fluorescence microscopy, long-term live cell imaging, directed differentiation, electrophysiology, microfluidics, computational simulation, and multiscale engineering. Guided by these quantitative approaches, my long-term research goal is to ascertain the mechanisms by which various biophysical stimuli direct the development of cells and tissues from human pluripotent stem cells, and to use these findings to address challenges in the basic, translational, and clinical sciences.