Disclosed herein are methods of producing a three-dimensional cell culture microenvironment, which may include exposing a lyophilized polycation coupon to a polyanion and a fluid medium. The lyophilized polycation coupon may optionally include a void volume, and the polyanion may optionally be contained within a slurry. Such methods may also include the steps of evaporating off the fluid medium of the slurry to produce a dried three-dimensional architecture, administering a hydrating fluid to the dried three-dimensional architecture, and producing the three-dimensional cell culture microenvironment. Also disclosed herein are three-dimensional cell culture microenvironments formed by various processes, as well as kits which include such three-dimensional cell culture microenvironments provided in a multi-well plate, and a hydrating fluid.

A polymerizable unit that yields an electrochemically responsive polymer (advantageously pyrrole) is anchored by polymerization within a polycaprolactone matrix to form an electroactive scaffold upon which cells can be cultured and in which the micro- and nano-topological features of the polycaprolactone matrix are preserved. A scaffold manufactured in accordance with the preferred embodiment can support Schwann cells, which produce nerve growth factor when electrically stimulated. Nerve growth factor has been demonstrated to promote the regeneration of nerve tissue. By implanting the scaffold on which Schwann cells have been cultured into damaged nerve tissue and applying a voltage across the scaffold, nerve growth factor is produced, thereby promoting repair of the damaged nerve tissue.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a cell culture support having improved cell adhesion and mobility. The method includes: mixing a hydrophilic polymer, a hydrophobic polymer and a solvent to prepare an electro-spinning solution having a viscosity from 50 cps to 2000 cps; electro-spinning the electro-spinning solution to form polymer fibers having beads formed on each of the fibers; accumulating the polymer fibers to form a fibrous web having pores; and penetrating a culture solution into the pores of the fibrous web. The beads have a diameter larger than that of the polymer fibers.

The present disclosure relates to the composition and process for the production of an ultra-strong, biocompatible, electroconductive, and stretchable hydrogel, which comprises: a step (a) of physical or chemical modification of natural polymers e.g., preparation of silk nanofiber and double methacrylation of gelatin; a step (b) of graphene oxide (GO) carboxylation; a step (c) of carbodiimidation between methacrylated natural polymers of step (a) and carboxylated GO of step (b); and a step (d) of three dimensional (3D) bioprinting of step (c) with/without silk nanofiber. It was found that these steps in this disclosure give rise to a biocompatible hydrogel with high mechanical strength in the range of load-bearing soft tissue such as tendon and heart as opposed to conventional hydrogels.

A method is disclosed for coating and patterning hydrogels in order to modify surface properties. The method exploits the water content of the hydrogel and the hydrophobicity of the reaction solvent to create a thin oxide adhesion layer on the hydrogel surface. This oxide adhesion layer enables rapid transformation of the hydrophilic, cell non-adhesive hydrogel into either a highly hydrophobic or a cell-adhesive hydrogel by reaction with an alkylphosphonic acid or an ,-diphosphonoalkane, respectively. Also disclosed are coated, patterned hydrogels and constructs comprising the coated, patterned hydrogels.

Described here are three-dimensional microenvironment niches prepared from biomaterial compositions that support growth and self renewal of stem cells. The invention also provides methods for inducing pluripotency in a somatic cell using chemical compounds, as well as methods for screening for compounds that can induce pluripotency in a somatic cell.

The present invention relates to: a method for inhibiting the differentiation of a neural stem cell by culturing the neural stem cell on a polymer porous membrane; a method for preparing a neural stem cell; and a method for differentiating and inducing a neural stem cell.

The present invention relates to methods for the specific separation of target cells from a biological sample, comprising specific binding of the target cells to phase-change hydrogel compositions and separation of respective cell-hydrogel complexes by counter-current centrifugation.

Methods are described herein for isolating clonal populations of T cells having a defined genetic modification. The methods are performed, at least in part, in a microfluidic device comprising one or more sequestration pens. The methods include the steps of: maintaining individual T cells (or precursors thereof) that have undergone a genomic editing process in corresponding sequestration pens of a microfluidic device; expanding the T cells into respective clonal populations of T cells; detecting, in one or more T cells of each clonal population, the absence of a cell surface marker that was present in the individual T cells (or precursors thereof); and detecting, in one or more T cells of each clonal population, the presence of a first nucleic acid sequence that is indicative of the presence of an on-target genome edit in the clonal population of T cells. Also described are compositions comprising one or more clonal populations of T cells isolated according to the methods disclosed herein.

The method of culturing cells disclosed herein includes printing cells onto a substrate that includes cell adhesive regions and cell repulsive regions. The cells are suspended in a printing medium to create a cell suspension, and a volume of the cell suspension is loaded into a printer. A cell adhesive region of the substrate is aligned beneath the printing channel of the printer, and droplets of the cell suspension are dispensed from the printing channel directly onto the cell adhesive region. Contact of the dispensed droplets with cell repulsive regions of the substrate is limited, either by targeting of the droplets to the cell adhesive regions, by repulsions generated by the cell repulsive areas, or both. The cells adhere to the cell adhesive regions to create a cell pattern, and are maintained thereafter in a physiologically suitable environment.