The present invention is drawn to the generation of micropatterns of biomolecules and cells on standard laboratory materials through selective ablation of a physisorbed biomolecule with oxygen plasma. In certain embodiments, oxygen plasma is able to ablate selectively physisorbed layers of biomolecules (e.g., type-I collagen, fibronectin, laminin, and Matrigel) along complex non-linear paths which are difficult or impossible to pattern using alternative methods. In addition, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to the micropatterning of multiple cell types on curved surfaces, multiwell plates, and flat bottom flasks. The invention also features kits for use with the subject methods.

A cell separation and culture device having a porous substrate; and a patterned carbon powder layer having a plurality of hollow regions, formed on an upper surface of the porous substrate by a forming manner; wherein the thickness of the patterned carbon powder layer is 0.04-0.08 mm. The cell separation and culture device is able to separate, detect or culture cells with various size and shape. The cell separation and culture device of present invention also simplifies the process of cell separation, detection and culture; therefore, it is accomplished within a very short time.

Methods of generating organoids on multi-well plates are provided by depositing a polymeric solution comprising cells under conditions which result in a homogenous population of organoids, which can be used for high throughput analysis for drug screening and for determining treatment regimens of a drug.

A cell culture substrate used for growing mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) while maintaining the differentiation potency of the mesenchymal stem cells includes a nonwoven fabric made of resin fibers spun using an electrospinning method. The nonwoven fabric includes a plurality of resin fibers having outer diameters of 10-50 μm. The plurality of resin fibers are intertangled in random directions. A mesh structure is formed by the intertangled plurality of resin fibers adhering and joining together at locations where the resin fibers contact one another. The mesh structure forms mesh openings that have a substantially elliptical shape with a diameter of 100-200 μm and that are surrounded by curved fibers. Innumerable air bubble pores having diameters of 0.1-3 μm are formed over the entire surface of the fibers making up the nonwoven fabric.

Cell culture devices, and related methods and kits, for modeling isotropic-to-anisotropic cellular transitions are provided. The devices can include a substrate having an isotropic film surface with one or more regions of aligned fibers dispersed thereon.

A cell adhesion composition according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: an amphiphilic compound; and a conjugate of a DNA and a hydrophilic molecule, wherein the amphiphilic compound has a hydrophobic group that can non-covalently bond to a cell membrane, and a hydrophilic group, and wherein a weight-average molecular weight of the hydrophilic molecule of the conjugate is larger than a weight-average molecular weight of a hydrophilic molecule from which the hydrophilic group of the amphiphilic compound derives. According to such a cell adhesion composition, it is possible to impart a cell adhesion ability to a base material at an arbitrary timing by using light having an arbitrary wavelength.

Provided is a cell culture scaffold capable of allowing cell masses to be formed easily and efficiently. A cell culture scaffold according to the present invention includes a substrate; and a protrusion formed by patterning in a pattern of a dot or a line on the substrate, wherein the protrusion contains a synthetic resin, the synthetic resin contains at least a polyvinyl alcohol derivative or a poly(meth)acrylic resin, the protrusion has cell adhesion, and a portion of the protrusion located at the protrusion center position in plan view has an average height of 10 nm or more and 10 μm or less.

A substrate surface may be modified with a polymer coating to render the surface suitable for plasma functionalization. The polymer coating is deposited onto the surface at ambient temperature to a thickness of less than 0.1 μm. The polymer coating includes poly(p-xylylene) or a derivative thereof, and is capable of penetrating into pores of a porous substrate while no substantially altering the porosity of the substrate. The coated substrate is selected from a material lacking a primary or secondary aliphatic hydrogen atom.

A system and method are provided for harvesting target biological substances. The system includes a substrate and a first and second channel formed in the substrate. The channels longitudinally extending substantially parallel to each other. A series of gaps extend from the first channel to the second channel to create a fluid communication path passing between a series of columns with the columns being longitudinally separated by a predetermined separation distance. The system also includes a first source configured to selectively introduce into the first channel a first biological composition at a first channel flow rate and a second source configured to selectively introduce into the second channel a second biological composition at a second channel flow rate. The sources are configured to create a differential between the first and second channel flow rates to generate physiological shear rates along the second channel that are bounded within a predetermined range.

A method for dynamic evolution and/or adaptation and monitoring of characteristics in living cells is provided, wherein the method may be performed at a microfluidic-enabled cell-culture device comprising pneumatic layer for directing flow of fluid to a plurality of individually addressable wells, and one or more sensors configured to detect data regarding environments inside one or more of the plurality of wells. The method may involve culturing a population of cells in a first well of the plurality of wells, perturbing one or more characteristics of an environment in the first well following the culturing of the population of cells, monitoring one or more characteristics of the population of cells in the first well, and removing all or part of the evolved/adapted population of cells from the first well.