Compliant substratum guides endothelial commitment from human pluripotent stem cells
The role of mechanical regulation in driving human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) differentiation has been minimally explored. Although endothelial cell (EC) fate from hiPSCs has been demonstrated using small molecules to drive mesoderm induction, the effects of substrate stiffness with regard to EC differentiation efficiency have yet to be elucidated. We hypothesized that substrate compliance can modulate mesoderm differentiation kinetics from hiPSCs and affect downstream EC commitment.