Method could be used to enhance stem cell therapies

The work, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), could help speed up developments in stem cell therapies for conditions such as arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

At the moment, the process involves culturing stem cells in a laboratory to increase the initial yield of cells and create enough volume to support cellular regeneration.

The method is made more difficult by spontaneous stem cell differentiation, where stem cells grown on standard plastic tissue culture surfaces do not expand to create new stem cells and create other cells that are of no use.

But engineers and biologists at Glasgow and Southampton believe they have developed a nanopatterned surface that could solve this problem.

Created by an injection-moulding process similar to that which is used to manufacture Blu-ray discs, the material is covered with 120nm pits that allow stem cells to grow and spread while retaining their stem cell characteristics.

Prof Douglas Kell, chief executive of the BBSRC, said: ‘Understanding how stem cells are affected by their environment is key to appreciating how they might be grown in sufficient quantities to be used in research or as therapies. This research shows that the physical surface that the cells are grown on can actually affect their fundamental biology in ways that are useful for us.