Medical instrument includes a substrate, in which cells are in contact with or held on a surface of the substrate, and at least the surface of the substrate which holds the cells is formed of a fluorine-containing cyclic olefin polymer which contains a repeating structure unit represented by Formula (1),

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wherein in Formula (1), at least one of R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 is fluorine, an alkyl with 1 to 10 carbon atoms which contains fluorine, an alkoxy with 1 to 10 carbon atoms which contains fluorine, or an alkoxyalkyl with 2 to 10 carbon atoms which contains fluorine, R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 are selected from hydrogen and certain non-fluorinated groups when R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 do not contain fluorine, R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 may be the same as or different from each other, and R.sup.1 to R.sup.4 may be bonded to each other to form a cyclic structure.

The present invention is to provide a cell culture substrate including a block polymer including a segment having a lower critical solution temperature and a hydrophobic segment, in which the segment having a lower critical solution temperature has a degree of polymerization of 400 to 10,000. Also provided is a cell culture substrate, in which the hydrophobic segment is obtainable by polymerizing a monomer having a particular structure. Also provided is a cell culture substrate being laminated on a supporting medium. Furthermore, a cell culture substrate having an average film thickness of 1,000 nm or less is provided.

The present invention relates to a novel bioactivity testing structure for single cell tracking using a gelling agent and a bioactivity testing system including the testing structure. The present invention also relates to bioactivity testing, drug susceptibility testing, antibiotic screening, and diagnostic methods using the testing structure. The bioactivity testing structure of the present invention enables very rapid and simple drug susceptibility testing of bacteria, particularly Mycobacterium tuberculosis, drug screening, and bacterial diagnosis. Particularly, the use of the testing structure enables DST and diagnosis of bacteria only by pretreatment without the need to concentrate human sputum samples irrespective of inoculum effect, ensuring rapid, accurate, and simple testing compared to conventional tuberculosis diagnosis or DST systems. In addition, the testing structure of the present invention simultaneously enables the diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing of tuberculosis. Therefore, the present invention provides an effective alternative to the prior art.

Provided herein are cell assay devices, methods of assaying the activity of immune cells on target cells, and methods of selecting a treatment for a subject having cancer. Described herein are cell assay devices comprising a biocompatible substrate having an upper surface supporting a plurality of arrays of spots comprising an adhesion-promoting material; a biocompatible membrane having top and bottom surfaces and positioned adjacent to the upper surface of the substrate and defining a plurality of chambers within the membrane between the top surface and the bottom surface of the membrane, wherein the membrane comprises at least two openings in the top surface of the membrane into each chamber to provide access to the chambers.

A cell culture chip from which a liquid retained in an opening is able to be sucked by a simple operation procedure while a liquid in a channel remains is provided.

A cell culture chip according to the present invention includes a bottom portion; a base portion formed on an upper surface of the bottom portion; a first well provided by opening the base portion in a first direction extending from a portion of a main surface of the base portion toward the bottom portion and having a shape such that a capillary force thereof is smaller than that of the chamber; a second well provided by opening the base portion in the first direction at a position separated from the first well in a second direction parallel to the main surface; and a tubular chamber that is defined by a region sandwiched between the bottom portion and the base portion and that provides communication between the first and second wells in the second direction. The first well has a shape with which a capillary force of the first well is smaller than a capillary force of the chamber.

Methods for laser-assisted repositioning of a micro-object and for culturing an attachment-dependent biological cell within a microfluidic device are described herein. Laser illumination is used to controllably create a bubble which repositions the micro-object. Further, methods of culturing an attachment-dependent biological cell are described, where the methods may include laser-assisted repositioning.

A cell culture well insert may include a frame defining a first open end, a second open end, and at least one support extending therebetween. The cell culture well insert may also include a fluid permeable mesh coupled to the frame and disposed across the second open end. The mesh may define pores that have an average pore size in a range from 10 micrometers to 100 micrometers.

Photoreceptor scaffolds and scaffold systems including the photoreceptor scaffolds are described herein. The scaffolds and scaffold systems can be used for transplantation of organized photoreceptor tissue, with or without RPE, which may improve grafted cell survival, integration, and functional visual rescue. Particularly, the photoreceptor scaffold is structured from a biocompatible film, patterned with an array of unique through-holes having a curvilinear cell receiver and at least one cell guide channel.

Disclosed is an ultra-violet (UV) light sterilisable fluid-guiding element (100, 200, 300, 400, 500) configurable to form a part of a normally closed bioprocessing fluid system, at least a portion of the element being formed from a material which is transmissive to UV light, said at least one portion of the element including one or more surfaces (134) configured to contact and guide fluids within the closed system. The element further includes at least one UV light emitting diode (LED) (154) mounted in, on, or adjacent the at least one portion and has sufficient light output to sterilise at least the one or more surfaces (134).

The presently disclosed subject matter provides a biomimetic organ model, and methods of its production and use. In one exemplary embodiment, the biomimetic organ model can be a multi-layer model including a at least two microchannels and at least one chamber slab with at least one membrane coated with cells disposed between at least one microchannel and the at least one chamber slab. In another exemplary embodiment, the biomimetic organ disease model can be a five-layer model including a first and second microchannel with a membrane-gel layer-membrane coated or encompassing cells disposed between the microchannels. In certain embodiments, at least one device can be coupled to the biomimetic organ model that delivers an agent to at least one microchannel.