Fibrous scaffold with tunable rigidity for enhanced cell expansion

This technology is a fibrous cell culture platform with tunable stiffness and surface composition to improve expansion of T-cells and stem cells.

Unmet Need: Cell culture platform with biomimetic rigidity and architecture

The rigidity and topography of cell culture surfaces have been shown to directly influence cell signaling and phenotype in numerous cell types, including T-cells and stem cells. Yet most cell culture occurs on flat, rigid tissue culture plastic that can be 200-1000x stiffer than native tissue. Thus, there is a need for the development of more physiologically relevant cell culture systems that better mimic native tissue properties to improve modulation of cell behavior in vitro.

The Technology: Fibrous scaffold with tunable rigidity for optimized cell activation

This technology describes a fibrous, three-dimensional cell culture platform with customizable topography and rigidity. Scaffolds are fabricated via electrospinning, in which nano-sized fibers are drawn from a polymer solution, and the scaffold can be functionalized with surface proteins to direct cell activity. The polymer chemical composition and electrospinning parameters can be readily adjusted to customize scaffold size, shape, and stiffness, as well as generate biomimetic cell culture surfaces. This technology can be used for studying immune cell activation for research and adoptive therapy applications, as well as for the expansion and differentiation of other cell types, such as stem cells.

Fibrous scaffolds of varying stiffness have been generated using the methods described in this technology, and T-cells cultured on these scaffolds are capable of undergoing proliferation and activation.

Applications:

• Expansion of T-cells for laboratory research or clinical applications
• Expansion and differentiation of stem cells for laboratory research or clinical applications
• Expansion and activation of other cell types that require membrane protein activation
• Platform for mechanotransduction research

Advantages:

• Tunable surface rigidity
• Better mimics native tissue properties
• Can be functionalized with surface coatings
• Improved cell expansion and activation of immune cells

Lead Inventor:

Lance Kam, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Status

Related Publications:

• Dang AP, De Leo S, Bogdanowicz, DR, Yuan DJ, Fernandes SM, Brown JR, Lu HH, Kam LC. “Enhanced activation and expansion of T cells using mechanically soft elastomer fibers” Adv Biosyst. 2018 Feb; 2(2).

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU14178

• Licensing Contact: Dovina Qu