Lisa Månsson

Background

     I grew up in Sweden where I also did my BSc in Engineering Physics (2017) and a MSc in Applied Physics (2020) at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg. I have always had an interest in biology and medicine, which is why my main focus in the masters' was on computational and biological physics, including one year of exchange studies in the biomedical engineering masters at Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. After completing my PhD studies in biomaterials my goal is to be the bridge between software developers and materials scientists in the development of the next generation of biomedical inventions.

Research

     I am currently working in a multidisciplinary, collaborative project examining different synthetic hydrogels suitable for stembryo models (bio-mimicking materials to study embryo development from stem cells). The human embryo formation is a very complex process that is still poorly understood. Success rates for in vitro fertilization (IVF) are as low as 25-30%, with even lower numbers shown for minority groups, and often with unknown reason. By understanding the embryonic development, these procedures can be improved. Current research on in vitro stembryo models frequently focuses on thorough examination of cell behavior, but in a poorly controlled and uncharacterized environment, often including cell-derived matrices with unknown concentrations of bio-molecular cues, leading to uncontrolled cell differentiation.
     Our primarily goal is to find an extracellular environment where stem cell pluripotency can be well controlled and maintained, which is also user friendly and easy to reproduce. We aim to study simple but controlled cell microencapsulation systems, applying a high-throughput, structured experimental feedback approach where materials characterization and following cell outcome give cues for the next version of a stembryo model system.