diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts
index ef68c99250..ebe31d590e 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/instructions.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import './ng_dev_mode';
 import {assertEqual, assertLessThan, assertNotEqual, assertNotNull, assertNull, assertSame} from './assert';
 import {LContainer, TContainer} from './interfaces/container';
 import {LInjector} from './interfaces/injector';
-import {CssSelector, LProjection} from './interfaces/projection';
+import {CssSelector, LProjection, NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME} from './interfaces/projection';
 import {LQueries} from './interfaces/query';
 import {LView, LViewFlags, LifecycleStage, RootContext, TData, TView} from './interfaces/view';
 
@@ -560,8 +560,12 @@ function setUpAttributes(native: RElement, attrs: string[]): void {
 
   const isProc = isProceduralRenderer(renderer);
   for (let i = 0; i < attrs.length; i += 2) {
-    isProc ? (renderer as ProceduralRenderer3).setAttribute(native, attrs[i], attrs[i | 1]) :
-             native.setAttribute(attrs[i], attrs[i | 1]);
+    const attrName = attrs[i];
+    if (attrName !== NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME) {
+      const attrVal = attrs[i + 1];
+      isProc ? (renderer as ProceduralRenderer3).setAttribute(native, attrName, attrVal) :
+               native.setAttribute(attrName, attrVal);
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -1279,9 +1283,23 @@ export function directiveRefresh<T>(directiveIndex: number, elementIndex: number
  * each projected node belongs (it re-distributes nodes among "buckets" where each "bucket" is
  * backed by a selector).
  *
- * @param selectors
+ * This function requires CSS selectors to be provided in 2 forms: parsed (by a compiler) and text,
+ * un-parsed form.
+ *
+ * The parsed form is needed for efficient matching of a node against a given CSS selector.
+ * The un-parsed, textual form is needed for support of the ngProjectAs attribute.
+ *
+ * Having a CSS selector in 2 different formats is not ideal, but alternatives have even more
+ * drawbacks:
+ * - having only a textual form would require runtime parsing of CSS selectors;
+ * - we can't have only a parsed as we can't re-construct textual form from it (as entered by a
+ * template author).
+ *
+ * @param selectors A collection of parsed CSS selectors
+ * @param rawSelectors A collection of CSS selectors in the raw, un-parsed form
  */
-export function projectionDef(index: number, selectors?: CssSelector[]): void {
+export function projectionDef(
+    index: number, selectors?: CssSelector[], textSelectors?: string[]): void {
   const noOfNodeBuckets = selectors ? selectors.length + 1 : 1;
   const distributedNodes = new Array<LNode[]>(noOfNodeBuckets);
   for (let i = 0; i < noOfNodeBuckets; i++) {
@@ -1296,7 +1314,7 @@ export function projectionDef(index: number, selectors?: CssSelector[]): void {
     // - there are selectors defined
     // - a node has a tag name / attributes that can be matched
     if (selectors && componentChild.tNode) {
-      const matchedIdx = matchingSelectorIndex(componentChild.tNode, selectors !);
+      const matchedIdx = matchingSelectorIndex(componentChild.tNode, selectors, textSelectors !);
       distributedNodes[matchedIdx].push(componentChild);
     } else {
       distributedNodes[0].push(componentChild);
diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/projection.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/projection.ts
index 87e44c933d..37d5c3ef96 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/projection.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/interfaces/projection.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ export type CssSelectorWithNegations = [SimpleCssSelector | null, SimpleCssSelec
  */
 export type CssSelector = CssSelectorWithNegations[];
 
+export const NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME = 'ngProjectAs';
+
 // Note: This hack is necessary so we don't erroneously get a circular dependency
 // failure based on types.
 export const unusedValueExportToPlacateAjd = 1;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/node_selector_matcher.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/node_selector_matcher.ts
index b1a508d85f..51b0a7974f 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/node_selector_matcher.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/node_selector_matcher.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import './ng_dev_mode';
 
 import {assertNotNull} from './assert';
 import {TNode, unusedValueExportToPlacateAjd as unused1} from './interfaces/node';
-import {CssSelector, CssSelectorWithNegations, SimpleCssSelector, unusedValueExportToPlacateAjd as unused2} from './interfaces/projection';
+import {CssSelector, CssSelectorWithNegations, NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME, SimpleCssSelector, unusedValueExportToPlacateAjd as unused2} from './interfaces/projection';
 
 const unusedValueToPlacateAjd = unused1 + unused2;
 
@@ -115,13 +115,34 @@ export function isNodeMatchingSelector(tNode: TNode, selector: CssSelector): boo
   return false;
 }
 
+export function getProjectAsAttrValue(tNode: TNode): string|null {
+  const nodeAttrs = tNode.attrs;
+  if (nodeAttrs != null) {
+    const ngProjectAsAttrIdx = nodeAttrs.indexOf(NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME);
+    // only check for ngProjectAs in attribute names, don't accidentally match attribute's value
+    // (attribute names are stored at even indexes)
+    if ((ngProjectAsAttrIdx & 1) === 0) {
+      return nodeAttrs[ngProjectAsAttrIdx + 1];
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 /**
  * Checks a given node against matching selectors and returns
- * selector index (or 0 if none matched);
+ * selector index (or 0 if none matched).
+ *
+ * This function takes into account the ngProjectAs attribute: if present its value will be compared
+ * to the raw (un-parsed) CSS selector instead of using standard selector matching logic.
  */
-export function matchingSelectorIndex(tNode: TNode, selectors: CssSelector[]): number {
+export function matchingSelectorIndex(
+    tNode: TNode, selectors: CssSelector[], textSelectors: string[]): number {
+  const ngProjectAsAttrVal = getProjectAsAttrValue(tNode);
   for (let i = 0; i < selectors.length; i++) {
-    if (isNodeMatchingSelector(tNode, selectors[i])) {
+    // if a node has the ngProjectAs attribute match it against unparsed selector
+    // match a node against a parsed selector only if ngProjectAs attribute is not present
+    if (ngProjectAsAttrVal === textSelectors[i] ||
+        ngProjectAsAttrVal === null && isNodeMatchingSelector(tNode, selectors[i])) {
       return i + 1;  // first matching selector "captures" a given node
     }
   }
diff --git a/packages/core/test/render3/compiler_canonical/content_projection_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/render3/compiler_canonical/content_projection_spec.ts
index ed64e0bf20..7f663fc039 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/render3/compiler_canonical/content_projection_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/render3/compiler_canonical/content_projection_spec.ts
@@ -39,8 +39,9 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
     }
 
     // NORMATIVE
-    const $pD_0$: $r3$.ɵCssSelector[] =
+    const $pD_0P$: $r3$.ɵCssSelector[] =
         [[[['span', 'title', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'title', 'toSecond'], null]]];
+    const $pD_0R$: string[] = ['span[title=toFirst]', 'span[title=toSecond]'];
     // /NORMATIVE
 
     @Component({
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
         factory: () => new ComplexComponent(),
         template: function(ctx: $ComplexComponent$, cm: $boolean$) {
           if (cm) {
-            $r3$.ɵpD(0, $pD_0$);
+            $r3$.ɵpD(0, $pD_0P$, $pD_0R$);
             $r3$.ɵE(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
             $r3$.ɵP(2, 0, 1);
             $r3$.ɵe();
@@ -91,4 +92,4 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
     }
   });
 
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+});
diff --git a/packages/core/test/render3/content_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/render3/content_spec.ts
index 0cc2e61007..0621af9898 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/render3/content_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/render3/content_spec.ts
@@ -538,7 +538,8 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
           projectionDef(
-              0, [[[['span', 'title', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'title', 'toSecond'], null]]]);
+              0, [[[['span', 'title', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'title', 'toSecond'], null]]],
+              ['span[title=toFirst]', 'span[title=toSecond]']);
           elementStart(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
           { projection(2, 0, 1); }
           elementEnd();
@@ -585,7 +586,8 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
           projectionDef(
-              0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]]);
+              0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]],
+              ['span.toFirst', 'span.toSecond']);
           elementStart(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
           { projection(2, 0, 1); }
           elementEnd();
@@ -632,7 +634,8 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
           projectionDef(
-              0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]]);
+              0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toFirst'], null]], [[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]],
+              ['span.toFirst', 'span.toSecond']);
           elementStart(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
           { projection(2, 0, 1); }
           elementEnd();
@@ -678,7 +681,9 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
        */
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
-          projectionDef(0, [[[['span'], null]], [[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]]);
+          projectionDef(
+              0, [[[['span'], null]], [[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]],
+              ['span', 'span.toSecond']);
           elementStart(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
           { projection(2, 0, 1); }
           elementEnd();
@@ -724,7 +729,7 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
        */
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
-          projectionDef(0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toFirst'], null]]]);
+          projectionDef(0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toFirst'], null]]], ['span.toFirst']);
           elementStart(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
           { projection(2, 0, 1); }
           elementEnd();
@@ -771,7 +776,7 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
        */
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
-          projectionDef(0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]]);
+          projectionDef(0, [[[['span', 'class', 'toSecond'], null]]], ['span.toSecond']);
           elementStart(1, 'div', ['id', 'first']);
           { projection(2, 0); }
           elementEnd();
@@ -825,7 +830,7 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
        */
       const GrandChild = createComponent('grand-child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
-          projectionDef(0, [[[['span'], null]]]);
+          projectionDef(0, [[[['span'], null]]], ['span']);
           projection(1, 0, 1);
           elementStart(2, 'hr');
           elementEnd();
@@ -891,7 +896,9 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
        */
       const Card = createComponent('card', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
-          projectionDef(0, [[[['', 'card-title', ''], null]], [[['', 'card-content', ''], null]]]);
+          projectionDef(
+              0, [[[['', 'card-title', ''], null]], [[['', 'card-content', ''], null]]],
+              ['[card-title]', '[card-content]']);
           projection(1, 0, 1);
           elementStart(2, 'hr');
           elementEnd();
@@ -942,6 +949,108 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
               '<card-with-title><card><h1 card-title="">Title</h1><hr>content</card></card-with-title>');
     });
 
+
+    it('should support ngProjectAs on elements (including <ng-content>)', () => {
+
+      /**
+       * <ng-content select="[card-title]"></ng-content>
+       * <hr>
+       * <ng-content select="[card-content]"></ng-content>
+       */
+      const Card = createComponent('card', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
+        if (cm) {
+          projectionDef(
+              0, [[[['', 'card-title', ''], null]], [[['', 'card-content', ''], null]]],
+              ['[card-title]', '[card-content]']);
+          projection(1, 0, 1);
+          elementStart(2, 'hr');
+          elementEnd();
+          projection(3, 0, 2);
+        }
+      });
+
+      /**
+       * <card>
+       *  <h1 ngProjectAs="[card-title]>Title</h1>
+       *  <ng-content ngProjectAs="[card-content]"></ng-content>
+       * </card>
+       */
+      const CardWithTitle = createComponent('card-with-title', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
+        if (cm) {
+          projectionDef(0);
+          elementStart(1, Card);
+          {
+            elementStart(3, 'h1', ['ngProjectAs', '[card-title]']);
+            { text(4, 'Title'); }
+            elementEnd();
+            projection(5, 0, 0, ['ngProjectAs', '[card-content]']);
+          }
+          elementEnd();
+          Card.ngComponentDef.h(2, 1);
+          directiveRefresh(2, 1);
+        }
+      });
+
+      /**
+       * <card-with-title>
+       *  content
+       * </card-with-title>
+       */
+      const App = createComponent('app', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
+        if (cm) {
+          elementStart(0, CardWithTitle);
+          { text(2, 'content'); }
+          elementEnd();
+        }
+        CardWithTitle.ngComponentDef.h(1, 0);
+        directiveRefresh(1, 0);
+      });
+
+      const app = renderComponent(App);
+      expect(toHtml(app))
+          .toEqual('<card-with-title><card><h1>Title</h1><hr>content</card></card-with-title>');
+
+    });
+
+    it('should not match selectors against node having ngProjectAs attribute', function() {
+
+      /**
+       *  <ng-content select="div"></ng-content>
+       */
+      const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
+        if (cm) {
+          projectionDef(0, [[[['div'], null]]], ['div']);
+          projection(1, 0, 1);
+        }
+      });
+
+      /**
+       * <child>
+       *  <div ngProjectAs="span">should not project</div>
+       *  <div>should project</div>
+       * </child>
+       */
+      const Parent = createComponent('parent', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
+        if (cm) {
+          elementStart(0, Child);
+          {
+            elementStart(2, 'div', ['ngProjectAs', 'span']);
+            { text(3, 'should not project'); }
+            elementEnd();
+            elementStart(4, 'div');
+            { text(5, 'should project'); }
+            elementEnd();
+          }
+          elementEnd();
+        }
+        Child.ngComponentDef.h(1, 0);
+        directiveRefresh(1, 0);
+      });
+
+      const parent = renderComponent(Parent);
+      expect(toHtml(parent)).toEqual('<child><div>should project</div></child>');
+    });
+
     it('should match selectors against projected containers', () => {
 
       /**
@@ -951,7 +1060,7 @@ describe('content projection', () => {
        */
       const Child = createComponent('child', function(ctx: any, cm: boolean) {
         if (cm) {
-          projectionDef(0, [[[['div'], null]]]);
+          projectionDef(0, [[[['div'], null]]], ['div']);
           elementStart(1, 'span');
           { projection(2, 0, 1); }
           elementEnd();
diff --git a/packages/core/test/render3/node_selector_matcher_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/render3/node_selector_matcher_spec.ts
index de4570774b..f26d19b4e2 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/render3/node_selector_matcher_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/core/test/render3/node_selector_matcher_spec.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
  */
 
 import {TNode} from '../../src/render3/interfaces/node';
-import {CssSelector, CssSelectorWithNegations, SimpleCssSelector} from '../../src/render3/interfaces/projection';
-import {isNodeMatchingSelector, isNodeMatchingSelectorWithNegations, isNodeMatchingSimpleSelector} from '../../src/render3/node_selector_matcher';
+import {CssSelector, CssSelectorWithNegations, NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME, SimpleCssSelector} from '../../src/render3/interfaces/projection';
+import {getProjectAsAttrValue, isNodeMatchingSelector, isNodeMatchingSelectorWithNegations, isNodeMatchingSimpleSelector} from '../../src/render3/node_selector_matcher';
 
 function testLStaticData(tagName: string, attrs: string[] | null): TNode {
   return {
@@ -183,4 +183,26 @@ describe('css selector matching', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('reading the ngProjectAs attribute value', function() {
+
+    function testTNode(attrs: string[] | null) { return testLStaticData('tag', attrs); }
+
+    it('should get ngProjectAs value if present', function() {
+      expect(getProjectAsAttrValue(testTNode([NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME, 'tag[foo=bar]'])))
+          .toBe('tag[foo=bar]');
+    });
+
+    it('should return null if there are no attributes',
+       function() { expect(getProjectAsAttrValue(testTNode(null))).toBe(null); });
+
+    it('should return if ngProjectAs is not present', function() {
+      expect(getProjectAsAttrValue(testTNode(['foo', 'bar']))).toBe(null);
+    });
+
+    it('should not accidentally identify ngProjectAs in attribute values', function() {
+      expect(getProjectAsAttrValue(testTNode(['foo', NG_PROJECT_AS_ATTR_NAME]))).toBe(null);
+    });
+
+  });
+
 });