A Novel Combination of Thermoresponsive and Nanofibrillar Surface for Cell Cultur

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This SBIR Phase I study is designed to develop and provide to the cell culture market, significantly improved surfaces for cell growth, differentiation control, and harvesting. The combination of two recently demonstrat ed improvements (thermally-responsive polymer for facile and gentle cell/tissue release from the support surface and nanofibrillar texture for improved cell adhesion and native property expression) will be demonstrated and compared with current commercial cell culture surfaces. The nanofibers for this textured surface will be electrospun or photochemically coated with thermoresponsive polymer. Thin coating or spinning the nanofibers with thermoresponsive polymer will allow the culture of stem and other mamm alian cells in a more native tissue-like environment and allow rapid detachment of cells and cell sheets without the damage from trypsin or mechanical scraping release treatment. Thus, this proposed new cell culture surface technology offers a temperature- responsive biomimetic surface with potential applications in tissue engineering, cell therapy, cellomic (cell arrays for toxicity assays) and cell-matrix interaction studies.Project Narrative This project will develop surfaces designed for the culture and harvest of mammalian cells in a more defined, disease-free and native tissue-like growth environment. This nanotextured surface with temperature- responsive release polymer will enable the growth and controlled differentiation of cells as individuals or th in tissues and their release from the growth surface without damage from digestive enzymes or mechanical scraping. This significant improvement in cell culture technique will add great value to basic and clinical research leading to cell therapy where a re ady supply of selected and healthy cells are needed.