I-Corps: Affordable Thermo-Responsive Cell Culture Supports for Damage-Free Cell Harvesting

University Of Akron, Akron OH

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to reduce production costs of high-quality stem and primary cells for regenerative medicine (RM), consequently reducing medical expenses and improving the quality of life for individuals. RM has a projected global market of $67.6 billion by 2020, and is capable of repairing, replacing and regenerating tissues and organs that are affected by disease/disorder, age, or injury. The common cell harvesting methods cause severe damage to cells, especially primary cells and stem cells. Our technology allows harvesting damage free cells, i.e., retaining essential cell functionalities and characteristics, which are superior for RM. Damage free cells will also enhance basic life science research by obtaining more clinical relevant results that cannot be achieved by using cell lines or damaged cells. While there is one commercially available thermo-responsive product being used to reduce cell damages during harvesting, it is too expensive to be adopted widely. Our technology is low cost, scalable, reproducible, and serves large growing markets. Through this project, we will identify key markets for adoption, correctly define the key product attributes, and understand scaling requirements, hence providing a source of high-quality stem and primary cells for critical medical research and applications. This I-Corps project will validate market potentials of applying thermo-responsive supports for damage free and chemical free cell harvesting, which is crucial for cell based regenerative medicine and basic life science research. Our technology for generating thermo-responsive supports employs a cost-effective and simple process that involves only 3 steps: blending, casting and thermal annealing of a thermo-responsive polymer and a network forming silane. During annealing, the silane molecules anchor to the surface while simultaneously forming networks to entrap polymer chains. Other reported thermo-responsive surfaces generally are prepared by using non-easily accessible electron beam irradiation or plasma polymerization to deposit a thermo-responsive layer, or painstakingly grow the thermo-responsive polymer on a surface. Also, as compared to the commercial product, our technology allows enhanced cell attachment and growth, and accelerated cell detachment upon cooling, thus avoiding cell damage. Therefore, our technology, described in research papers and patent protected, provides better platforms for commercial expansion of stem and primary cells and for basic research. In addition, our technology, with small scale samples, has been validated by another research group for a variety of applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.