A plant fat-based scaffold for growing cell-based meat products for consumption. The scaffold comprises primarily plant fats or waxes in addition to cell binding proteins and optional additional components that assist in the growth of cultivated animal cells. The scaffold can exist in both a liquified state during sterilization and a solid state during the formation of the scaffold, the seeding of the cultivated cells, and the cellular growth phase. The scaffold is capable of remaining in the final product for consumption or is partially or completely melted out of the final product and recycled into raw material for forming new scaffolds.

Described herein are nanostraw well insert apparatuses (e.g., devices and systems) that include nanotubes extending through and out of a membrane so that a material can pass through the membrane from a fluid reservoir depot and into a cell grown onto the nanotubes when electrical energy (e.g., electroporation energy) is applied. In particular, the device, systems and methods described herein may be adapted for cell growth viability and transfection efficiency (e.g., >70%). These apparatuses may be readily integratable into cell culturing processes for improved transfection efficiency, intracellular transport, and cell viability.

The present disclosure provides a method of fabricating curvature-defined (C-D) or shape-defined (S-D) concave and convex polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces and a method of fabricating C-D or S-D convex and concave gel surfaces for use in cell and tissue culturing and in other surface and interface applications, and provides a method of using C-D or S-D convex and concave surfaces with varying curvatures to direct cell attachment, spreading, and migration.

3D native tissue-derived scaffolding materials are made in various formats, including but not limited to hydrogel, sponge, fibers, microspheres, and films, all of which function to better preserve natural extracellular matrix molecules and to recapitulate the natural tissue environment, thereby effectively guiding tissue regeneration. Tissue-derived scaffolds are prepared by incorporating a homogenized tissue-derived suspension into a polymeric solution of synthetic, natural, or hybrid polymers. Such tissue-derived scaffolds and scaffolding materials have a variety of utilities, including: the creation of 3D tissue models such as skin, bone, liver, pancreas, lung, and so on; facilitation of studies on cell-matrix interactions; and the fabrication of implantable scaffolding materials for guided tissue formation in vivo. The tissue-derived scaffolds and scaffolding materials also provide the opportunity to correlate the functions of extracellular matrix with tissue regeneration and cancer metastasis, for example.

Described herein is a beads-free bioprocessor as an automated and cost-effective T cell processing and manufacturing platform. T cells are a core component in CAR T cell therapies for cancer treatment, but are difficult to manufacture to scale in clinically relevant quantities. The 3D bioprocessor provides an alternative device that is scalable, beads-free, easy-to-use, and cost-effective for using CAR T cell therapy in cancer immunotherapy. Besides CAR T cell application, this platform technology has potential for many other applications such as cancer cell isolation.

A non-degradable device for use in controlled feeding of mammalian cell cultures including by way of example cultures of stem cells such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Methods of making and using the device are also disclosed.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to methods and compositions for controlling cellular expression. More specifically, embodiments described herein relate to hydrogel-encapsulated/dispersed cells, methods of forming hydrogel-encapsulated/dispersed cells, and methods of using hydrogel-encapsulated/dispersed cells for controlling production of, for example, secretomes. In an embodiment, a composition for controlling production of secretomes is provided. The composition includes, a hydrogel comprising, in polymerized form, one or more photoreactive monomers and a thiol linker, wherein at least one of the one or more photoreactive monomers comprises a methylene functional group; and one or more cells dispersed or encapsulated within the hydrogel.

Materials and methods for cell-mimetics having mechanical properties of biological neural axons are provided. A cell-mimetic device includes an array of fibers comprised of hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) or an HDDA derivative, and at least one derivative of polyethylene glycol (PEG) selected from the group consisting of: PEG-acrylate, PEG-diacrylate, and any multi-arm PEG-acrylate.

The present invention provides novel methods for poling piezoelectric materials, e.g., collagen, which are carried out in the absence of liquid media and at a relatively low temperature. The present invention also provides electroactive scaffolds comprising poled collagen for promoting cell growth and differentiation.

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.