Ayla Smout

Ayla Smout is a Researcher in the Liver Cell Biology department at the College of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium. Her work focuses on liver fibrosis, hepatic stellate cell biology, and advanced in vitro modeling systems.

• Institution: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
• School: College of Medicine
• Department: Liver Cell Biology

Research interests center on:

• Liver fibrosis mechanisms and modeling
• Hepatic stellate cell activation in chronic diseases
• iPSC-derived liver spheroids for disease modeling
• Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and toxicity assays
• Profibrotic receptor signaling (e.g., GPR176)
• 3D cell culture and organoid technology

Recent publications (2023-2025) highlight expertise in creating multicellular liver models to study fibrosis, steatotic liver disease, and drug toxicity. These works emphasize stem cell engineering, stellate cell regulation, and receptor biology.

Collaborations include partnerships with researchers like Laura Cools, Leo van Grunsven, and Nathalie Messaoudi across projects on liver disease and tissue engineering.