Stem Cells Grow in Plastic Bags (Bilione Young @ OTW)
Researchers working in Germany have come up with a solution to a perplexing stem cell problem—how to keep the cell mixtures from becoming contaminated. While doctors have been increasingly using live cells in their treatments of patients—those cells have to be kept, cultivated, reproduced or even modified in a patient-specific manner.
The problem lies in the storability of the cell solutions used. As they can easily become infected by germs, they can only be stored for a few days in the containers conventionally used today.
Investigators from five research institutions, coordinated by the Helmholz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany, together with partners in the industry, have developed innovative plastic surfaces for efficiently producing human cells for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Their idea was to cultivate the cells in sealed, sterile plastic bags. The inner surface of the bags was modified to provide the cells with good conditions for survival. A team led by Dr Michael Thomas at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST in Braunschweig, Germany, has developed a plas...
