Darcy Wagner

Darcy Wagner is a Senior Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Lung Regenerative Medicine at McGill University. She leads the Lung Bioengineering and Regeneration (LBR) Lab, which relocated from Lund University to McGill in 2024. Her work integrates materials science, stem cell biology, and advanced manufacturing techniques to develop bioengineered lung tissues for transplantation and disease modeling.

• Research Focus: Extracellular matrix (ECM) regulation of lung stem cells, 3D bioprinting, and microfluidics for tissue regeneration.
• Funding: Supported by Wallenberg Foundation, European Research Council (ERC), and Canadian Tri-Agency.

Her lab utilizes acellular scaffolds, synthetic matrices, and iPSC-derived lung cells to create models for drug discovery and to reduce animal testing. Recent publications highlight advancements in ECM-based bioinks, fibrotic disease modeling, and novel tissue processing methods.

• 2023: Label-Free Photothermal Spectroscopy for tissue analysis
• 2023: Fibrotic alveolar organoids
• 2023: Formalin-free histological evaluation
• 2022: 3D-printed lung progenitor isolation
• 2021: ECM-reinforced bioinks

Scientific Awards:

• Wallenberg Molecular Medicine Fellowship
• ERC Starting Grant
• Canada Excellence Research Chair in Lung Regenerative Medicine

The LBR Lab includes PhD students, postdocs, and program managers, with alumni and current members listed on their website. They provide open-access resources like decellularization protocols, precision-cut lung slices, and bioinformatics pipelines.