A single-step coculture procedure has been developed that can generate chimeric mice with high efficiency and reproducibility. The procedure involves culture of embryonic stem (ES) cells with 8- to 16-cell embryos in microwells to provide conditions for effective cell-cell-embryo contact. A suspension of ES cells is layered over the microwells, followed by transfer of an embryo without zona pel...

Mechanical interactions between individual cells and their substrate have been studied extensively over the past decade; however, understanding how these interactions change as cells interact with neighboring cells in the development of a cell sheet, or early stage tissue, is less developed. We use a recently developed experimental technique for quantifying the mechanics of confluent cell sheet...

Increasing performance demands and shorter use lifetimes of consumer electronics have resulted in the rapid growth of electronic waste. Currently, consumer electronics are typically made with nondecomposable, nonbiocompatible, and sometimes even toxic materials, leading to serious ecological challenges worldwide. Here, we report an example of totally disintegrable and biocompatible semiconducti...

With the surge of interest in miniaturized implanted medical devices (IMDs), implantable power sources with small dimensions and biocompatibility are in high demand. Implanted battery/supercapacitor devices are commonly packaged within a case that occupies a large volume, making miniaturization difficult. In this study, we demonstrate a polymer electrolyte-enabled biocompatible magnesium-air ba...

Chronically implantable wireless neural interface devices require biocompatible and stable high density integration of several components such as sensing elements, data processors, communication, and power supply coils. Biocompatible integration technology has been developed for Utah Electrode Array (UEA) based implantable neural interface devices. These interface devices comprise: silicon base...

We present a novel technique to accurately position single cells on a substrate using negative dielectrophoresis and cell-substrate adhesion. The cells are suspended in physiological media throughout the patterning process. We also verify the biocompatibility of this method by demonstrating that the patterned cells proliferate and show normal morphology. We calculate the temperatures and transm...

Traditional methods to study cell-cell adhesion have been limited by their inability to manipulate cell-cell interactions without simultaneously affecting other microenvironmental factors. Here we describe a novel method that enables the culture of cells with precise simultaneous control of both cell-cell and cell-substratum adhesion. Using microfabricated stamps of poly(dimethylsiloxane), we c...

The results of the randomized trial by Fan et al. suggest that 'biocompatible' peritoneal dialysis solutions have no major advantage over standard solutions in peritoneal dialysis patients in relation to residual renal function (RRF) and technique survival. The possible effect of more biocompatible peritoneal dialysis solutions on RRF should be tested in patients starting peritoneal dialysis pr...