Dennis E. Discher Talks About Controlling Cell Culture Environments
New Hot Paper Commentary, September 2010
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ArticlE: Growth Factors, Matrices, and Forces Combine and Control Stem Cells
Authors: Discher, DE;Mooney, DJ;Zandstra,
PW |
Dennis E. Discher talks with ScienceWatch.com and answers a few questions about this month's New Hot Papers paper in the field of Multidisciplinary.
Why do you think your paper is highly
cited?
"Cells in our body largely interact with soft tissue matrices that are orders of magnitude softer than rigid plastic, and so soft gels can exert an important influence on stem cells."
Because many stem cell scientists and engineers are finding stem cells are sensitive to a wide range of inputs.
Does it describe a new discovery, methodology, or
synthesis of knowledge?
It's a "synthesis of knowledge."
Would you summarize the significance of your paper
in layman’s terms?
The classic nature vs. nurture question also applies to stem cells and cell differentiation. As kids grow, their genes influence many of their features, but so does their general environment such as whether they are driven everywhere or need to walk a lot.
Your stem cells have the same genes as the rest of you, but expression seems directed in part by factors outside the cell, including physical factors such as forces and matrix elasticity in combination with chemical factors often called growth factors.
How did you become involved in this research, and
how would you describe the particular challenges, setbacks, and
successes that you've encountered along the way?
The main challenge is to carefully control every physical aspect of cell culture environments. Cell biologists are careful to grow cells at 37C because temperatures even a few degrees higher induce fever in us and a "heat shock" response in cultured cells. Equal care is needed in terms of controlling the fluid forces on cells and the physical softness of culture materials.
Cells in our body largely interact with soft tissue matrices that are orders of magnitude softer than rigid plastic, and so soft gels can exert an important influence on stem cells.
Where do you see your research leading in the
future?
Toward in vivo tests in animals first.
Prof. Dennis E. Discher
Biophysical Eng'g & NanoBio-Polymers Lab
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA, USA
KEYWORDS: GROWTH FACTORS, MATRICES, FORCES, STEM CELLS, CONTROL, INFARCTED RAT HEARTS, BONE MARROW, FACTOR DELIVERY, SELF-RENEWAL, ENDOTHELIAL CELLS, PROGENITOR CELLS, SKELETAL MUSCLE, DIFFERENTIATION, TISSUE, SUBSTRATE.