New platform to manipulate the behavior of stem cells.
© 2011 par kat m research
Artificial niche microarrays for probing single stem cell fate in high throughput.
To understand the regulatory role of niches in maintaining stem-cell fate, multifactorial in vitro models are required. These systems should enable analysis of biochemical and biophysical niche effectors in a combinatorial fashion and in the context of a physiologically relevant cell-culture substrate. The group of Prof. Matthias P Lutolf (UPLUT - Prof. Lutolf Group) report a microengineered platform comprised of soft hydrogel microwell arrays with modular stiffness in which individual microwells can be functionalized with combinations of proteins spotted by robotic technology. To validate the platform, they tested the effect of cell-cell interactions on adipogenic differentiation of adherent human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and the effect of substrate stiffness on osteogenic MSC differentiation. Using this method, it is possible to probe the effect of key microenvironmental perturbations on the fate of any stem cell type in single cells and in high throughput.
Samy Gobaa et al., Nature Methods, doi:10.1038/nmeth.1732 (2011)