Utilizes Mechanochemical Signaling and a Textured Surface to Generate a Variety of Cells for Various Medical Therapies
This tissue harvester creates an active apparatus upon which amniotic, progenitor, mesenchymal, and embryonic stem cells can rapidly proliferate and mature into more distinct forms and functions due to the versatile airfoil shape of the tissue harvester and its surface roughness. Stem cell advancements like this tissue harvester have the potential to revolutionize the way human diseases are treated. Many companies and nations have invested greatly in the future research and commercialization of stem cells and stem cell treatments. In 2016, more than $3 billion will go toward stem cell research. Stem cells are artificially grown and transformed into specialized cells, which have characteristics consistent with cells of other tissues. Additionally, many of the procedures used to produce stem cells only can be used in specific scenarios. Thus, researchers at the University of Florida have developed a tissue harvester that can generate cells under a variety of conditions for use in various medical therapies. By manipulating the surface texture of the substrate, researchers can use this apparatus for a variety of applications in both the academic and industrial sector. This tissue harvester also has the ability to quantify the amount of shear force to which each cell is subjected, helpful when studying the interaction of different cell types.
Application
Tissue harvester that creates an active apparatus that allows stem cells to proliferate, mature and differentiate
Advantages
- Possesses the ability to change surface conditions by virtue of its airfoil-shaped profile, facilitating the differentiation of cells
- Provides a path to cells for nutrient delivery and waste removal, eliminating the chief source of necrosis in 3D scaffolds
- Accurately quantifies cell exposure to shear force, revealing the interactions of different cell types
Technology
This tissue harvester allows pluripotent stem cells to proliferate and undergo differentiation under a variety of conditions for use in various medical therapies. The wing-shaped profile of the apparatus exerts a gradient of shear force onto the stem cells to enable the harvesting of multiple cell types efficiently. The harvested stem cells are then placed on the tissue harvester and allowed to proliferate. The apparatus possesses a textured surface that comprises nanometer- or micrometer-sized pillars of varying cross-sections and spacing. These pillars can be manipulated and transformed into different shapes depending on which cells and structures are being targeted and their intended uses. Then the apparatus is placed within a flow field such that the cells disposed on the tissue harvester can experience different flow fields. The versatile geometry of the airfoil shape tissue harvester allows for the stem cells placed on the textured surface to be swept up and distributed by laminar and turbulent flow facilitating a large scale generation of a cell viable cell source.
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