New technique helps researchers determine how stem cells … – Phys.Org

April 5, 2017

Stem cell differentiation can now be seen thanks to a combination of machine learning and microfabrication techniques developed by scientists at the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center in Japan. The results, published in PLOS One, followed the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) which are easily obtained from adult bone marrow.

MSCs have proven to be important for regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy because they can potentially repair many different types of organ damage, as they have the ability to differentiate into various cell types including bone, muscle and fat. Depending on the way the cells are grown the results can be quite different and so controlling differentiation is an important goal.

Observing MSC differentiation under different conditions is an essential step in understanding how to control the process. However, this has proved challenging on two fronts. First, the physical space in which the cells are grown has a dramatic impact on the results, causing significant variation in the types of cells into which they differentiate. Studying this effect requires consistent and long lasting spatial confinement. Second, classifying the cell types which have developed through manual observation is time consuming.

Previous studies have confined cell growth with fibronectin on a glass slide. The cells can only adhere and differentiate where the fibronectin is present and are thus chemically confined. However, this procedure requires high technical skill to maintain the confinement for an extended period of time. To overcome this, the first author of the study, Nobuyuki Tanaka, decided to look for a new way to confine them. Using a simple agarose gel physical confinement system, he found that he could maintain them for up to 15 days. Tanaka says, "It was wonderful to be able to do this, because agarose gel is a commonly used material in biology laboratories and can be easily formed into a micro-cast in a PDMS silicone mold."

He continues, "The advantage of this system is that once the PDMS molds are obtained the user only needs agarose gel and a vacuum desiccator to create highly reproducible micro-casts." The vacuum pump pulls the agarose gel into the mold. He explains, "We provided the protocol to our coauthors at ETH Zurich and they performed the agarose micro-casting and conducted the stem cell differentiation study. Stem cells were captured in the micro-structures and their differentiation was controlled under the captured condition."

Tanaka's paper also describes an automated cell type classification system, using machine learning, which reduces the time and labor needed to analyze cells. "Combined together, these tools give us a powerful way to understand how stem cells differentiate in given conditions."

According to Yo Tanaka, leader of the Laboratory for Integrated Biodevice, where the research was conducted, "We hope this will break down the barriers that have hindered research in this area so far and help to establish harmony between biologists and engineers. The focus of engineers has traditionally been to develop new technologies, but scientists prefer to use well established technologies. However, if our newly developed technology is simple enough it can spread rapidly, this is our goal."

Explore further: Stem cells seem speedier in space

More information: PLOS One (2017). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173647

Journal reference: PLoS ONE

Provided by: RIKEN

Growing significant numbers of human stem cells in a short time could lead to new treatments for stroke and other diseases. Scientists are sending stem cells to the International Space Station to test whether these cells ...

To date, it has been assumed that the differentiation of stem cells depends on the environment they are embedded in. A research group at the University of Basel now describes for the first time a mechanism by which hippocampal ...

Scientists have discovered a new way to replicate the regenerative power of stem cells in the lab, which could lead to powerful treatments for injuries and diseases.

Though immune therapy and regenerative medicine are promising areas of research for future medical therapies, they are limited today by the difficulty of creating stem cells, and scientists around the world are searching ...

Researchers at the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have discovered that a metabolic molecule called alpha-ketoglutarate helps pluripotent stem cells mature early in the process ...

Tissue Regeneration Materials Unit at MANA, NIMS successfully developed gold nanoparticles that have functional surfaces and act on osteogenic differentiation of stem cells.

Great apes help a person access an object when that person thinks they knowswhere it is but is mistaken, according to a study published April 5, 2017 in theopen-access journal PLOS ONE by David Buttelmann from Max Planck ...

An American who fell in love with both the Great Barrier Reef and his wife via The University of Queensland has led a breakthrough discovery that could protect one of the Seven Natural Wonders. Husband-and-wife Professor ...

A detailed analysis of 39 U.S. fisheries by Duke University economists offers strong new evidence that catch shares curb the "race to fish" that compresses fishing seasons.

What's brightly colored, lives on shipwrecks, filter-feeds like a whale, and shoots webs like Spiderman? If you can't readily come up with an answer, that's okay: until now, such animals weren't known to science. But as of ...

When whiteflies take off, they don't just spread their wings and fly. Just .03 of an inch long, these tiny insects possess a variety of sophisticated techniques that provide them with exceptional stability in the air. Tel ...

(Phys.org)A team of researchers from several institutions in Germany has found that middle-age killifish fed the gut contents of younger killifish lived longer than normal. In their paper uploaded to the bioRxiv preprint ...

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

This is really great! Getting stem cells to differentiate in to desired adult cells is what is holding back stem cell therapies. This is a MAJOR step in that direction!

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Follow this link:
New technique helps researchers determine how stem cells ... - Phys.Org