AIMRC Seminar: From metabolic sensing to predictive modeling in stem cell manufacturing

The Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center (AIMRC) will host Dr. Manolis Tzanakakis, a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Tufts University, at 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, in BELL 2269. Dr. Tzanakakis develops innovative approaches to stem cell engineering and bioprocessing to advance regenerative medicine and cell-based therapies. In this seminar, he will highlight how metabolism and predictive modeling can be leveraged to improve the manufacturing and therapeutic potential of stem cells. Abstract: Manufacturing stem cell–based therapeutics at scale hinges on how cells sense their metabolic environment and on the ability to model and predict that behavior. This seminar will outline several efforts along that arc. Cell population balance equations, coupled with experimental data, are used to model Stem cell cultivation in stirred-suspension systems. These models predict oxygen transport within cell aggregates, a key metabolic constraint on viability and fate. Beyond oxygen transport, accumulated lactate then reshapes pluripotent stem cell proliferation, mitochondrial and lipid metabolism, and the epigenome via histone lactylation, establishing a metabolic-sensing axis relevant to dense cultures. Building on these metabolite–phenotype links, a hybrid modeling framework that combines mechanistic and neural-network approaches connects glucose and lactate to critical quality attributes across culture time. Finally, molecular customization, xeno-free media, exosome-guided cardiogenic differentiation, and optogenetics translate metabolic and signaling insights into cardiac and pancreatic therapeutics, guiding the design, optimization, and control of cell-manufacturing bioprocesses. Biography: Dr. Manolis Tzanakakis is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Tufts University. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota (UMN) and completed postdoctoral training