The “nichoid” is a novel cell substrate inspired by the natural stem cells’ niche. This polymer-engineered scaffold is composed of three-dimensional (3D) grids composed of horizontal and vertical rods that perfectly recreate the natural stem cell niche, ensuring at the same time good optical accessibility. Early studies on nichoids as cell scaffold have obtained promising results. When cells were grown inside the nichoid they maintained the stem cells’ physiological morphology and gene expression.
This new substrate can be used in combination with MOAB, a miniaturized optically accessible bioreactor that thanks to its transparency and low thickness of the components, it is optically accessible and may be exploited as a 4D bioreactor for prolonged culture.
This trasparency allows to monitor the microenvironment inside the 3D nichoids and a better planning of the experiments of spatial delivery of nutrients and oxygen which affects cell growth and viability. Find our more in the new publication by Raimondi et al.:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2021.799594/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Bioengineering_and_Biotechnology&id=799594
