This guest post by JM Wilkinson and Kelly S. Davidge of Kirkstall Ltd. highlights an emerging technology, organotypic cell cultures.
Cell culture has come a long way in the last 20 years. 3D is rapidly replacing 2D (plated cells on cover slips) and now perfusion based systems with gentle flow of media are improving proliferation rates, control of differentiation and cell function. For in vitro safety and efficacy testing the goal is organotypic behaviour where the cell metabolism accurately reflects what happens in the human body. However some of the techniques also have direct relevance for stem cell research too. In this note we discuss some of the important factors that help to steer stem cell differentiation and could deliver mature cells with low batch to batch variation and a far more homogeneous population. [Read more…]