3-D Aligned Polymer Nanofibers for Cell Culture & Migration Models

Nanofiber Solutions announces the introduction of its new patent-pending high-throughput nanofiber culture dishes, citing it as a major breakthrough for more realistic in vitro environments.  By providing an environment that closely mimics the physical structure found in vivo, these 3-D nanofiber substrates allow more accurate modeling of cell migration while still allowing for the critical need of high resolution live-cell imaging.  This in turn, allows anti-cancer compounds to be developed and tested more efficiently, faster and less expensively.

Nanofiber Solutions develops and markets synthetic nanofiber multi-well plates for cell culture applications ranging from drug discovery to stem cell expansion.  This technology uses aligned 3-D substrates to better mimic human in vivo environments and thus facilitate faster screening and more effective cancer research.  The scaffold is composed of synthetic polymer nanofibers randomly arranged or aligned into parallel nanofibers which are placed on the bottom of standard cell culture dishes.  This gives a 3-D surface for cells to grow and attach to and allows for researchers to model metastasis and cell mobility in vitro which is especially important as researchers investigate cellular mechanisms of migration from the primary tumor.  As a result, researchers are able to more accurately study the effects of various chemical compounds on cell behavior.  Investigators can also coat the fibers with different biological coatings of interest (i.e. collagen, fibronectin, etc.) just like existing culture dishes or upregulate/downregulate genes to investigate different cellular mechanisms.

Nanofiber Solutions’ nanofibers more accurately simulate the 3-D structure of human tissue while allowing for high resolution live-cell imaging and they are available in all standard sizes for cell culture dishes. Most lab testing occurs on human cells that are placed in flat, plastic cell-culture dishes and plates, which the company says yield less-accurate results. “That environment is so different from what exists inside the human body that any drugs that emerge from that type of research are, not surprisingly, limited in their ability to treat cancer,” said co-founder John Lannutti, boldly. With the company’s nanofibers placed inside those dishes, however, potential new drugs can be tested in an environment that more closely resembles real-world applications, according to the company.  As a result, companies can bring drugs to market faster by reducing the number of animal and human tests required to find effective compounds.

Dr. Jed Johnson, CTO, foresees the nanofibers as the future of cell culture.  “As we make advances in cancer research and regenerative medicine the demand for more realistic in vitro models will grow. “  Nanofiber Solutions cell & tissue culture devices are now available. Complete details at www.nanofibersolutions.com  or by contacting:

Ross Kayuha
CEO
ross.kayuha@nanofibersolutions.com 
(614) 975-6646

Dr. Jed Johnson
Chief Technology Officer
Jed.Johnson@nanofibersolutions.com
937-631-3596