Scientist, Regenerative Medicine Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Ottawa

Blair K. Gage (PhD) is a Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in the Regenerative Medicine Program. He completed his postdoctoral studies with Dr. Gordon Keller at the McEwen Stem Cell Institute (Toronto, ON) after a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology with Dr. Timothy Kieffer at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC). His PhD work explored how transcription factors regulate the pancreatic endocrine cell subtypes that are formed from stem cells including human pluripotent stem cells. His postdoctoral work shifted to generate liver endothelium from human pluripotent stem cells to create potential cell-based and cell-informed therapeutics for liver disease and Hemophilia A. Before becoming an independent investigator at the OHRI in December 2023, Dr. Gage acquired numerous competitive funding scholarships and fellowships including those from NSERC, CIHR, Michael Smith Foundation, and Stem Cell Network.

1.     Gage BK, Liu JC, Innes BT, MacParland SA, McGilvray ID, Bader GD, Keller GM. Generation of Functional Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Venous Angioblasts. Cell Stem Cell. (2020) 27(2): 254-269 e259. Article.

• This study established the core mouse model used in the Gage lab where mouse liver vasculature (LSECs) are replaced by functionally mature hPSC-derived LSECs.
• Exploration of published scRNAseq data of hPSC-LSECs can be found collaboratively here with Dr. Gary Bader (U of Toronto).

2. Gage BK, Merlin S, Olgasi C, Follenzi A, Keller GM. Therapeutic Correction of Hemophilia A by Transplantation of hPSC-derived Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cell Progenitors. Cell Rep. (2022) 39(1): 110621. Article.

• This study developed a new higher yield differentiation protocol to make hPSC-derived venous endothelial cells with enhanced liver engraftment potential.
• In collaboration with Dr. Antonia Follenzi (Università, del Piemonte Orientale, Italy), this study also revealed that hPSC-VEC cell therapy can functionally correct severe bleeding phenotypes seen in Hemophilia A mice paving the way for future cell therapy development.

Bleeding disorders; Diabetes; Liver cancer; Liver disease; Vascular, heart and metabolic disease

Basic research; Bioinformatics; Cell therapy; Disease models; Gene expression; Gene therapy; Genetics; Genomics; Model organisms; Molecular and cellular biology; Regenerative medicine; Stem cells; Translational research; Transplantation