Dr. Xinna Wang's Seminar on Engineering an Artificial Cell Microenvironment

Dr. Xinna Wang gave a seminar on August 4, 2023 online on Zoom. Her talk was on “Engineering an artificial cell microenvironment - a useful in vitro model for tissue engineering and beyond”.

Abstract:

In native microenvironment/niche, cells continuously interact with surrounding niche components (e.g., extracellular matrix (ECM), soluble factors, topographies, mechanical features) to exert manifold functions, such as proliferation, differentiation, and migration. As a result, exploring the interaction between cells and niches is critical for understanding the physiological and pathological events at cellular level. Nevertheless, the inaccessibility and complexity of in vivo microenvironment impede the cell niche studies, and thus, it is essential to create biomimetic artificial cell niche models using tissue engineering approaches. Direct laser writing (DLW), one of micropatterning technologies, stands out from the traditional photolithography techniques by using laser to directly immobilize target molecules on the surface of a substrate material at micro-meter scale, in a spatially- and quantitatively-controlled manner, without the aid of a pre-generated photomask. Our research team has developed a DLW-based bio-fabrication system, in which protein-based structures/patterns with micron-/sub-micron resolution can be readily generated by the two-photon mediated photo-crosslink. We have demonstrated that this system is powerful to fabricate functional ECM and mechanical microenvironment for cell niche studies. However, it remains challenging to engineer a soluble cell niche (e.g., growth factors) using the direct photo-crosslink modality since such molecules are more vulnerable to the crosslinking process. In this talk, I will present (1) the development of engineering the soluble cell niche using the combination of two-photon DLW system and host-guest chemistry; (2) the extended applications based on this platform, such as fabricating a high-throughput cell niche factor biochip for screening the optimal combinations of cell niche factors to dictate a specific cell fate in vitro; and (3) the utilization of this platform to generate a precisely controlled multiple signaling center for potential applications such as early development study.

Learn more about our multiphoton microfabrication and micropatterning (MMM) technology here.