State of the art in Purkinje bioengineering

This review article will cover the recent developments in the new evolving field of Purkinje bioengineering and the development of human Purkinje networks. Recent work has progressed to the point of a methodological and systematic process to bioengineer Purkinje networks. This involves the development of 3D models based on human anatomy, followed by the development of tunable biomaterials, and strategies to reprogram stem cells to Purkinje cells. Subsequently, the reprogrammed cells and the biomaterials are coupled to bioengineer Purkinje networks, which are then tested using a small animal injury model. In this article, we discuss this process as a whole and then each step separately. We then describe potential applications of bioengineered Purkinje networks and challenges in the field that need to be overcome to move this field forward. Although the field of Purkinje bioengineering is new and in a state of infancy, it holds tremendous potential, both for therapeutic applications and to develop tools that can be used for disease modeling.