The invention relates to culturing brain endothelial cells, and optionally astrocytes and neurons in a fluidic device under conditions whereby the cells mimic the structure and function of the blood brain barrier. Culture of such cells in a microfluidic device, whether alone or in combination with other cells, drives maturation and/or differentiation further than existing systems.

Disclosed herein is a material that may be useful as a coating for optical slides and medical implants. The material may aid or restrict grown of cells on a coating of the composite material. As such, there is provided a composite material having a substrate on the surface of which a coating layer of an amorphous metal oxide is formed. The metal oxide may be one or more of Ag.sub.2O, ZnO, ZrO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2, CuO, and Y.sub.2O.sub.3 and the coating layer may be from 5 to 100 nm thick and have a root mean square roughness of the coating surface is from 0.1 to 0.7 nm.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cell structure which does not contain glutaraldehyde and can form blood vessels after transplantation, and a method for producing the above-described cell structure. According to the present invention, there is provided a cell structure which contains a biocompatible macromolecular block and at least one kind of cell and has voids and in which a plurality of the biocompatible macromolecular blocks are arranged in gaps between a plurality of the cells, in which a ratio of the volume of the biocompatible macromolecular blocks with respect to the volume of the cell structure is 10% to 30%, a ratio of the volume of the cells with respect to the volume of the cell structure is 20% to 50%, and a ratio of the volume of the voids with respect to the volume of the cell structure is 35% to 60%.

A method for preparing a topographically structured hydrogel microarray is described comprising the steps of a) providing one or more types of biomolecule(s) on top of micropillars of an array of micropillars, preferably by means of robotical spotting, b) providing a partially crosslinked hydrogel on a substrate, preferably attached to a substantially rigid and/or planar substrate, c) simultaneously soft-embossing a hydrogel microwell array and transferring the biomolecule(s) from the micropillars to the microwells by pressing the micropillars of the array of step a) onto the partially crosslinked layer of hydrogel of step b) until substantial completion of crosslinking and d) demolding the array of micropillars of step a) from the hydrogel microwell array of step c). The method according to the invention has the advantages of resulting in higher biochemical patterning precision, allowing for modulation of biochemical parameters by interfacing microarray manufacture with robotic technology and rendering the microarrays obtained compatible with existing read-out systems such as microscopes. Further, the elasticity of the hydrogel can be varied by tuning its shear modulus.

Disclosed are a nanofiber mat, a manufacturing method thereof, and applications thereof as a mat for cell culturing or as a barrier membrane for guided bone regeneration (GBR). The nanofiber layer includes a nanofiber layer and a reinforcement pattern that is disposed on the nanofiber layer and adhesively connected with the nanofiber layer. The nanofiber layer and the reinforcement pattern are combined with each other by at least one of the melting-solidification of at least a part of the nanofiber layer together with the reinforcement pattern, the dissolution-solidification of the same, and the penetration of a part of the reinforcement pattern into the nanofiber layer, followed by solidification.

A 3D printer may precisely control deposition of diffusible chemical signals in different spatial regions of a solid polymer structure, in such a way that the concentration and spatial distribution of each diffusible chemical signal in each spatial region of the structure is independently controlled. A hydrogel containing genetically engineered, living organisms may be applied to a surface of the solid polymer structure. The living organisms may be single-celled organisms, such as bacteria. The diffusible chemical signals may diffuse out of the solid polymer structure and into the hydrogel, and may control gene expression of genetically engineered cells in different spatial locations in the hydrogel. Thus, gene expression of genetically-engineered cells in a hydrogel may be controlled on a region-by-region basis, by precisely controlling the position and concentration of diffusible chemical signals that are initially embedded in a solid structure adjacent to the hydrogel.

Engineered, living, three-dimensional liver tissue constructs including: one or more layers, wherein each layer contains one or more liver cell types, the one or more layers cohered to form a living, three-dimensional liver tissue construct free of pre-formed scaffold. Also disclosed are arrays and methods of making the same.

The present invention relates to a method for selective cell attachment/detachment, cell patternization and cell harvesting by means of near infrared rays. More particularly, conducting polymers or metal oxides having exothermic characteristics upon irradiation of near infrared light is used as a cell culture scaffold, thus selectively attaching/detaching cells without an enzyme treatment. The scaffold has an effect of promoting proliferation or differentiation of stem cells, and therefore, can be used as a stem cell culture scaffold. The scaffold enables cell attachment/detachment without temporal or spatial restrictions, thus enabling cell patternization.

A device and method for cultivating cells are provided, wherein a cell cultivating layer is formed on a surface of a substrate, and a temperature-responsive layer having a plurality of temperature-responsive polymer with magnetic objects is formed on a surface of the cell cultivating layer. When a controlling characteristic exerted on the temperature-responsive layer is varied, a plurality of cells can be adhered on the cell cultivating layer or detached therefrom. When the device is utilized, a temperature control step is operated to control environmental temperature at a first temperature for inducing temperature-responsive polymers becoming hydrophobic whereby the plurality of cells are adhered on the cell cultivating layer. In addition, the alternating magnetic field is utilized to rise temperature of the temperature-responsive polymers so that the plurality of cells can be kept being adhered on the cell cultivating layer at a second temperature lower than the first temperature.

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.