Darcy Wagner is using CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) funding to push the boundaries of lung tissue engineering. Chronic lung diseases affect more than 60 million people worldwide and are the third leading cause of death. With only about 7,000 lung transplants performed each year due to donor shortages, there is a critical need for new therapeutic approaches.
At McGill and the Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Darcy Wagner’s team is developing bioengineered human lung tissue that could one day replace damaged air sacs (alveoli) responsible for gas exchange. Using state-of-the-art biomanufacturing methods pioneered in her lab, they aim to create transplantable alveolar tissue units that can be delivered minimally invasively via bronchoscope. Her project focuses on producing clinical-grade biomaterials, generating alveolar cells from stem cells, and assessing tissue functionality using light sheet fluorescence microscopy, advanced 3D imaging, and RNA sequencing.
About the CFI
Bioengineering and monitoring the development of transplantable human lung alveoli using microfluidic-based approaches
Professor Darcy Wagner, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine
$800,000
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