The purpose of the present invention is to provide a cell culture substratum which has excellent resistance to liquid culture media and low cytotoxicity, can achieve a high cell adhesion ratio and a high viability of cultured cells, has excellent thermal stability, and is less likely to absorbs ultraviolet ray. A cell culture substratum which is provided with a substrate made from an inorganic material and has multiple concavo-convex structures on a culturing surface thereof, wherein, when the concavo-convex structures are measured with an atomic force microscope in accordance with JISB0601 and JISR1683 (measured area: a 1 m-square, cut-off value of a low-pass contour curve filter: 1 nm, cut-off value of a high-pass contour curve filter: 170 nm), the average of the lengths of contour curve elements of the concavo-convex structures is 1 to 170 nm as measured in at least one direction (when a curve showing long-wavelength components that are blocked by the high-pass contour curve filter is converted to a straight line by the least square method, the average line is a line that is parallel with the straight line and indicates a height cumulative relative frequency distribution in the contour curve of 50%).

The invention relates to the methods to increase populations of cancer stem cells (CSCs), including human CSCs, using, for example, a FiSS (fiber-inspired smart scaffold) platform, a scaffold for cell culture comprising an electrospun mixture of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and a block copolymer of polylactic acid (PLA) and monomethoxypolyethylene glycol (mPEG). As an example, we demonstrated that MCF-7 cells grown on FiSScsc developed into well-formed single-cell tumoroids (SCTs), showing a 3-fold increase in the cancer stem cell (CSC) population versus similar-passage cells grown as monolayers. This increase was further potentiated when the first-generation tumoroids were used to grow second- and third-generation tumoroids. Additionally, we scaled-up the cell culturing protocol from, for example, a 96-well plate to, for example, a 6-well plate, with no loss in the induction of CSCs. We also sorted and froze CSC-enriched cells and successfully thawed them again to grow tumoroids, while maintaining the CSC population.

Embodiments herein described provide antigen-presenting cell-mimetic scaffolds (APC-MS) and use of such scaffolds to manipulating T-cells. More specifically, the scaffolds are useful for promoting growth, division, differentiation, expansion, proliferation, activity, viability, exhaustion, anergy, quiescence, apoptosis, or death of T-cells in various settings, e.g., in vitro, ex vivo, or in vivo. Embodiments described herein further relate to pharmaceutical compositions, kits, and packages containing such scaffolds. Additional embodiments relate to methods for making the scaffolds, compositions, and kits/packages. Also described herein are methods for using the scaffolds, compositions, and/or kits in the diagnosis or therapy of diseases such as cancers, immunodeficiency disorders, and/or autoimmune disorders.

This invention relates, e.g., to a Myocyte-based Flow Assist Device (MFAD) for treating a subject in need of increased flow of a biological fluid, such as venous blood or lymph, comprising a sheath which comprises rhythmically contracting myocytes.

The present invention relates to the field of mammalian cell culture, and provides methods and compositions for cell attachment to, cultivation on and detachment from a solid substrate surface containing from at least about 0.5% N, a sum of O and N of greater than or equal to 17.2% and a contact angle of at least about 13.9 degrees, lacking a feeder cell layer and lacking an adlayer. In one embodiment of the present invention, the cells are treated with a compound capable of inhibiting Rho kinase activity. In another embodiment, the cells are treated with a compound capable of inhibiting Rho activity.

The present invention provides a method for culturing organoids, the method comprising: a) disassociating unprocessed organoids to produce a cell suspension; b) sieving the cell suspension through a cell strainer to retain a sieved cell suspension containing cells of about 10 ?m to about 1 mm in diameter; and c) seeding cells of the sieved cell suspension into a bioreactor in a cell culture medium comprising an extracellular support matrix.

A method of coating a surface with nanoparticles for biological analysis of cells that includes the steps of cleaning the surface with an oxidizing acid, treating the surface with an organosilane, coating the surface with nanoparticles, and then growing cells on the surface coated with the nanoparticles. The surface may be a glass surface, a silica-based surface, a plastic-based surface or a polymer-based surface. The nanoparticles may be gold-based nanomaterials.

Self-aligned fibrous scaffolds are disclosed. The scaffolds are capable of automechanoinduction of cell cultures and methods to induce authomechanoinduction in cancer cells and stem cells are disclosed as well.

This disclosure relates to compositions and methods for reprogramming an initial cell (e.g., somatic cell) to generate specialized cell types of interest, such as cardiac, hepatic, blood, neuronal and other cells from human somatic cells. In some embodiments, initial (e.g., somatic) cell is a human cell thus producing human induced cell types of interest. In some embodiments, the compositions and methods incorporate nanoparticles functionalized with biologically active molecules (RNAs, proteins, peptides and other small molecules). These newly generated (i.e., induced) specialized cells are useful to improve organ function and/or tissue regeneration (heart, liver, etc.) and to screen drugs for functional activity.

A scaffold material for cell culturing using a nucleic acid aptamer that can be chemically synthesized, containing no animal-derived components, and having high biocompatibility is provided. A cell scaffold material containing an E-cadherin binding nucleic acid aptamer.