A simple, scalable, and reproducible technology that allows direct formation of large numbers of homogeneous and synchronized embryoid bodies (EBs) of defined sizes from dissociated human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) was developed. Non-cell-adhesive hydrogels were used to create round-bottom microwells to host dissociated hiPSCs. No Rho-associated kinase inhibitor (ROCK-i), or centri...

Microwell technology has revolutionized many aspects of in vitro cellular studies from 2D traditional cultures to 3D in vivo-like functional assays. However, existing lithography-based approaches are often costly and time-consuming. This study presents a rapid, low-cost prototyping method of CO2 laser ablation of a conventional untreated culture dish to create concave microwells used for genera...

The formation and orientation of the mitotic spindle is a critical feature of mitosis. The morphology of the cell and the spatial distribution and composition of the cells' adhesive microenvironment all contribute to dictate the position of the spindle. However, the impact of the dimensionality of the cells' microenvironment has rarely been studied. In this study we present the use of a microwe...

Directed differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells is useful for creating models of human disease and could potentially generate a wide array of functional cell types for therapeutic applications. Methods to differentiate ES cells often involve the formation of cell aggregates called embryoid bodies (EBs), which recapitulate early stages of embryonic development. EBs are typically made from ...

The cytokine production by leukocytes correlates with body's ability to mount an immune response and therefore has high diagnostic value. In the present study we employed microfabricated surfaces to capture T-cells from minimally processed human blood, arrange these cells into a single cell array, and then detect interferon (IFN)-gamma released from individual cells. The fabrication of cell cap...

Micromixing of a highly viscous biosample with water using orbital shaking and microchannels is considered. Existing methods mix biosamples by only shaking microwells or by specially designed microstirrers which are ineffective or inapplicable for highly viscous materials, let alone small volumes at microliter or nanoliter levels. Our method mixes a viscous biosample with water in microwells us...

Here we report a controllable method based on electrodeposition to fabricate Ag nanodendrites (NDs) on a microwell patterned electrode. The microwell patterns on the ITO electrode are fabricated via the microcontact printing technique. By varying the microwell size and electrodeposition time, the morphology of metal deposits on the microwell patterned ITO electrode can be tuned from boulders to...

Adipose-derived stem cells have been applied for the treatment of various diseases. This study was performed to fabricate the three-dimensional stem cell spheroids with adipose-derived stem cells and to evaluate the effects of cell number and culture duration on the viability and the osteogenic differentiation of three-dimensional cultures. Adipose-derived stem cells were purchased, and stem ce...

Embryoid body (EB) formation closely recapitulates early embryonic development with respect to lineage commitment. Because it is greatly affected by cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions, the ability to control the initial number of cells in the aggregates and to provide an appropriate substrate are crucial parameters for uniform EB formation. Here we report of an ultra-rapid fabrication an...