{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110802"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110802","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Investigating the role of geometry, mechanics, and microenvironmental cues on liver progenitor cell differentiation","abstract":"Engineered systems permit investigation of the variety of signals in the microenvironment that direct cells and tissue fates. This work focuses on developing and using such systems to investigate how mechanical characteristics impact liver progenitor cell differentiation. In this dissertation, I will introduce and review relevant concepts of mechanobiology and the 2D and 3D in vitro systems used doe measurement and manipulation. I then describe my work combining microarrays with a semi-automated implementation of TFM analysis to enables evaluation of the impact of substrate stiffness, matrix composition, and tissue geometry on cellular mechanical behavior in high throughput, and the application of this system to circular islands of liver progenitor cells. Here I characterize how peak cell to substrate traction stresses at the island periphery, which is also predicted by mechanical models, coincident with peak biliary fate. Building from this work, I next describe the development of a hydrogel-based microwell platform, which I used to produce arrays of 3D, multicellular liver progenitor cell microtissues in constrained geometries. These generated distinct mechanical profiles which I modeled with finite element method software, which was supported with mechanical measurements. I used this system to correlate patterns of tensile and compressive stress with patterns of progenitor cell fate. Finally, I adapted this system into a coculture platform used to investigate signaling between liver progenitor cells and portal fibroblasts, showing the portal fibroblasts lead to increased biliary differentiation in context-specific ways. This dissertation details the engineering behind these diverse methods for use by the scientific community, along with describing the specific contributions made to understanding liver development.","abstract_html":"Engineered systems permit investigation of the variety of signals in the microenvironment that direct cells and tissue fates. This work focuses on developing and using such systems to investigate how mechanical characteristics impact liver progenitor cell differentiation. In this dissertation, I will introduce and review relevant concepts of mechanobiology and the 2D and 3D in vitro systems used doe measurement and manipulation. I then describe my work combining microarrays with a semi-automated implementation of TFM analysis to enables evaluation of the impact of substrate stiffness, matrix composition, and tissue geometry on cellular mechanical behavior in high throughput, and the application of this system to circular islands of liver progenitor cells. Here I characterize how peak cell to substrate traction stresses at the island periphery, which is also predicted by mechanical models, coincident with peak biliary fate. Building from this work, I next describe the development of a hydrogel-based microwell platform, which I used to produce arrays of 3D, multicellular liver progenitor cell microtissues in constrained geometries. These generated distinct mechanical profiles which I modeled with finite element method software, which was supported with mechanical measurements. I used this system to correlate patterns of tensile and compressive stress with patterns of progenitor cell fate. Finally, I adapted this system into a coculture platform used to investigate signaling between liver progenitor cells and portal fibroblasts, showing the portal fibroblasts lead to increased biliary differentiation in context-specific ways. This dissertation details the engineering behind these diverse methods for use by the scientific community, along with describing the specific contributions made to understanding liver development.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Berg, Ian Charles Edwin"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Bioengineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Underhill, Gregory H","Sirk, Shannon J","Harley, Brendan","Saif, Taher"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-09-17T04:04:12Z","date_published":"2021-09-17T04:04:12Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:52Z","subjects":["liver tissue engineering","microwells","3D cell culture","mechanobiology","microtissues","traction force microscopy","hydrogels","biomechanics"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["© 2021 by Ian C. E. Berg. All rights reserved"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110802","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Underhill, Gregory H","Sirk, Shannon J","Harley, Brendan","Saif, Taher"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Berg, Ian Charles Edwin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-09-17T04:04:12Z","2023-09-17T04:07:01Z","2021-04-21","2021-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Bioengineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["liver tissue engineering","microwells","3D cell culture","mechanobiology","microtissues","traction force microscopy","hydrogels","biomechanics"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© 2021 by Ian C. 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I then describe my work combining microarrays with a semi-automated implementation of TFM analysis to enables evaluation of the impact of substrate stiffness, matrix composition, and tissue geometry on cellular mechanical behavior in high throughput, and the application of this system to circular islands of liver progenitor cells. Here I characterize how peak cell to substrate traction stresses at the island periphery, which is also predicted by mechanical models, coincident with peak biliary fate. Building from this work, I next describe the development of a hydrogel-based microwell platform, which I used to produce arrays of 3D, multicellular liver progenitor cell microtissues in constrained geometries. These generated distinct mechanical profiles which I modeled with finite element method software, which was supported with mechanical measurements. I used this system to correlate patterns of tensile and compressive stress with patterns of progenitor cell fate. Finally, I adapted this system into a coculture platform used to investigate signaling between liver progenitor cells and portal fibroblasts, showing the portal fibroblasts lead to increased biliary differentiation in context-specific ways. This dissertation details the engineering behind these diverse methods for use by the scientific community, along with describing the specific contributions made to understanding liver development.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01","The student, Ian Berg, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-15 at 08:53.","The student, Ian Berg, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-04-15 at 08:56.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-04-21 at 14:07.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16277 on 2021-09-16 at 20:08:26","Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T04:04:12Z (GMT). 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This work focuses on developing and using such systems to investigate how mechanical characteristics impact liver progenitor cell differentiation. In this dissertation, I will introduce and review relevant concepts of mechanobiology and the 2D and 3D in vitro systems used doe measurement and manipulation. I then describe my work combining microarrays with a semi-automated implementation of TFM analysis to enables evaluation of the impact of substrate stiffness, matrix composition, and tissue geometry on cellular mechanical behavior in high throughput, and the application of this system to circular islands of liver progenitor cells. Here I characterize how peak cell to substrate traction stresses at the island periphery, which is also predicted by mechanical models, coincident with peak biliary fate. Building from this work, I next describe the development of a hydrogel-based microwell platform, which I used to produce arrays of 3D, multicellular liver progenitor cell microtissues in constrained geometries. These generated distinct mechanical profiles which I modeled with finite element method software, which was supported with mechanical measurements. I used this system to correlate patterns of tensile and compressive stress with patterns of progenitor cell fate. Finally, I adapted this system into a coculture platform used to investigate signaling between liver progenitor cells and portal fibroblasts, showing the portal fibroblasts lead to increased biliary differentiation in context-specific ways. This dissertation details the engineering behind these diverse methods for use by the scientific community, along with describing the specific contributions made to understanding liver development.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01","The student, Ian Berg, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-15 at 08:53.","The student, Ian Berg, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-04-15 at 08:56.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-04-21 at 14:07.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16277 on 2021-09-16 at 20:08:26","Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T04:04:12Z (GMT). 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All rights reserved"],"dc:subject":["liver tissue engineering","microwells","3D cell culture","mechanobiology","microtissues","traction force microscopy","hydrogels","biomechanics"],"dc:title":["Investigating the role of geometry, mechanics, and microenvironmental cues on liver progenitor cell differentiation"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Bioengineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:52Z"}