Nano Tech
NANO NOW
This image shows cells printed in a grid pattern
by block cell printing technology (left) and
woodblocks used in ancient Chinese printing
(right).
Credit: Lidong Qin lab and Digital Museum of
Science and Art (Beijing, China)
Abstract:
With a nod to 3rd century Chinese woodblock
printing and children's rubber stamp toys,
researchers in Houston have developed a way to
print living cells onto any surface, in virtually any
shape. Unlike recent, similar work using inkjet
printing approaches, almost all cells survive the
process, scientists report in this week's
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
New live-cell printing technology works like
ancient Chinese woodblocking
Houston, TX | Posted on February 10th, 2014
The researchers, led by Houston Methodist
Research Institute nanomedicine faculty member
Lidong Qin, Ph.D., say their approach produces 2-
D cell arrays in as little as half an hour, prints the
cells as close together as 5 micrometers (most
animal cells are 10 to 30 micrometers wide), and
allows the use of many different cell types.
They've named the technology Block-Cell-
Printing, or BloC-Printing.
"We feel the current technologies are inadequate,"
Qin said. "Inkjet-based cell printing leaves many
of the cells damaged or dead. We wanted to see if
we could invent a tool that helps researchers
obtain arrays of cells that are alive and still have
full activity."
Recent work to print cells in two and three
dimensions using electricity-gated inkjet
technology have been largely successful, but
sometimes only half of the printed cells survive
the printing process -- a source of frustration for
many laboratory scientists.
"Cell printing is used in so many different ways
now -- for drug development and in studies of
tissue regeneration, cell function, and cell-cell
communication," Qin said. "Such things can only
be done when cells are alive and active. A
survival rate of 50 to 80 percent is typical as cells
exit the inkjet nozzles. By comparison, we are
seeing close to 100 percent of cells in BloC-
Printing survive the printing process."
BloC-Printing manipulates microfluidic physics to
guide living cells into hook-like traps in the
silicone mold. Cells flow down a column in the
mold, past trapped cells to the next available slot,
eventually creating a line of cells (in a grid of
such lines). The position and spacing of the traps
and the shape of the channel navigated by the
cells is fully configurable during the mold's
creation. When the mold is lifted away, the living
cells remain behind, adhering to the growth
medium or other substrate, in prescribed
formation.
Qin's group tested BloC-Printing for its utility in
studying cancerous cells and primary neurons. By
arranging metastatic cancer cells in a grid and
examining their growth in comparison with a non-
metastatic control, the researchers found they
could easily characterize the metastatic potential
of cancer cells.
"We looked at cancer cells for their protrusion
generation capability, which correlates to their
malignancy level," Qin said. "Longer protrusion
means more aggressive cancer cells. The
measurement may help to diagnose a cancer's
stage."
The researchers also printed a grid of brain cells
and gave the cells time to form synaptic and
autaptic junctions.
"The cell junctions we created may be useful for
future neuron signal transduction and axon
regeneration studies," Qin said. "Such work could
be helpful in understanding Alzheimer's disease
and other neurodegenerative diseases."
While it is too early to predict the market cost of
BloC-Printing, Qin said the materials of a single
BloC mold cost about $1 (US). After the mold has
been fabricated and delivered, a researcher only
needs a syringe, a carefully prepared suspension
of living cells, a Petri dish, and a steady hand, Qin
said. Inkjet cell printers can cost between $
10,000 and $200,000.
"BloC-Printing can be combined with molecular
printing for many types of drug screening, RNA
interference, and molecule-cell interaction
studies," he said. "We believe the technology has
big potential."
While the fidelity of BloC-Printing is high, Qin said
inkjet printing remains faster, and BloC-Printing
cannot yet print multi-layer structures as
inkjetting can.
###
Qin and postdoctoral fellow Kai Zhang, Ph.D., are
BloC-Printing's co-inventors.
Qin and Zhang's PNAS coauthors are Chao-Kai
Chou, Ph.D., and Mien-Chie Hung, Ph.D., (the
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center)
, and Xiaofeng Xia, Ph.D. (Houston Methodist
Research Institute). The researchers acknowledge
support from the National Institutes of Health, the
Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of
Texas, the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the Emily
Hermann Research Fund, the Golfers Against
Cancer, and the Alliance for Nanohealth.
In addition to his position in the Houston
Methodist Research Institute's Department of
Nanomedicine, Qin is also a Weill Cornell Medical
College assistant professor of cell and
developmental biology
NANO NOW
This image shows cells printed in a grid pattern
by block cell printing technology (left) and
woodblocks used in ancient Chinese printing
(right).
Credit: Lidong Qin lab and Digital Museum of
Science and Art (Beijing, China)
Abstract:
With a nod to 3rd century Chinese woodblock
printing and children's rubber stamp toys,
researchers in Houston have developed a way to
print living cells onto any surface, in virtually any
shape. Unlike recent, similar work using inkjet
printing approaches, almost all cells survive the
process, scientists report in this week's
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
New live-cell printing technology works like
ancient Chinese woodblocking
Houston, TX | Posted on February 10th, 2014
The researchers, led by Houston Methodist
Research Institute nanomedicine faculty member
Lidong Qin, Ph.D., say their approach produces 2-
D cell arrays in as little as half an hour, prints the
cells as close together as 5 micrometers (most
animal cells are 10 to 30 micrometers wide), and
allows the use of many different cell types.
They've named the technology Block-Cell-
Printing, or BloC-Printing.
"We feel the current technologies are inadequate,"
Qin said. "Inkjet-based cell printing leaves many
of the cells damaged or dead. We wanted to see if
we could invent a tool that helps researchers
obtain arrays of cells that are alive and still have
full activity."
Recent work to print cells in two and three
dimensions using electricity-gated inkjet
technology have been largely successful, but
sometimes only half of the printed cells survive
the printing process -- a source of frustration for
many laboratory scientists.
"Cell printing is used in so many different ways
now -- for drug development and in studies of
tissue regeneration, cell function, and cell-cell
communication," Qin said. "Such things can only
be done when cells are alive and active. A
survival rate of 50 to 80 percent is typical as cells
exit the inkjet nozzles. By comparison, we are
seeing close to 100 percent of cells in BloC-
Printing survive the printing process."
BloC-Printing manipulates microfluidic physics to
guide living cells into hook-like traps in the
silicone mold. Cells flow down a column in the
mold, past trapped cells to the next available slot,
eventually creating a line of cells (in a grid of
such lines). The position and spacing of the traps
and the shape of the channel navigated by the
cells is fully configurable during the mold's
creation. When the mold is lifted away, the living
cells remain behind, adhering to the growth
medium or other substrate, in prescribed
formation.
Qin's group tested BloC-Printing for its utility in
studying cancerous cells and primary neurons. By
arranging metastatic cancer cells in a grid and
examining their growth in comparison with a non-
metastatic control, the researchers found they
could easily characterize the metastatic potential
of cancer cells.
"We looked at cancer cells for their protrusion
generation capability, which correlates to their
malignancy level," Qin said. "Longer protrusion
means more aggressive cancer cells. The
measurement may help to diagnose a cancer's
stage."
The researchers also printed a grid of brain cells
and gave the cells time to form synaptic and
autaptic junctions.
"The cell junctions we created may be useful for
future neuron signal transduction and axon
regeneration studies," Qin said. "Such work could
be helpful in understanding Alzheimer's disease
and other neurodegenerative diseases."
While it is too early to predict the market cost of
BloC-Printing, Qin said the materials of a single
BloC mold cost about $1 (US). After the mold has
been fabricated and delivered, a researcher only
needs a syringe, a carefully prepared suspension
of living cells, a Petri dish, and a steady hand, Qin
said. Inkjet cell printers can cost between $
10,000 and $200,000.
"BloC-Printing can be combined with molecular
printing for many types of drug screening, RNA
interference, and molecule-cell interaction
studies," he said. "We believe the technology has
big potential."
While the fidelity of BloC-Printing is high, Qin said
inkjet printing remains faster, and BloC-Printing
cannot yet print multi-layer structures as
inkjetting can.
###
Qin and postdoctoral fellow Kai Zhang, Ph.D., are
BloC-Printing's co-inventors.
Qin and Zhang's PNAS coauthors are Chao-Kai
Chou, Ph.D., and Mien-Chie Hung, Ph.D., (the
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center)
, and Xiaofeng Xia, Ph.D. (Houston Methodist
Research Institute). The researchers acknowledge
support from the National Institutes of Health, the
Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of
Texas, the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the Emily
Hermann Research Fund, the Golfers Against
Cancer, and the Alliance for Nanohealth.
In addition to his position in the Houston
Methodist Research Institute's Department of
Nanomedicine, Qin is also a Weill Cornell Medical
College assistant professor of cell and
developmental biology
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