How to Achieve more Consistent Organoid Culture
Organoids are complex three-dimensional cell cultures that mimic key features of organs such as intestine, lung, liver, heart, and brain. They are derived from adult stem cells present in tissue samples, or via directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, and are used to investigate organ development, model disease, and even develop personalized medicines. Because organoids better represent native tissues compared to traditional monolayer cultures, they are powerful tools for scientific research.
Generating organoids begins with stem cell culture in an appropriate extracellular matrix material. Corning® Matrigel® matrix is the most widely used and is typically mixed with the stem cells before being dispensed as small dome-shaped droplets into the wells of a microplate. Once the Matrigel matrix droplets have been submerged in growth medium, the organoids are left to grow. Many thousands can be produced within just a few weeks.
Creating Matrigel matrix domes is technically challenging, largely because Matrigel matrix only exists as a liquid when cold. As soon as Matrigel matrix contacts a warm surface, it begins to polymerize, making it essential that both Matrigel matrix and pipette tips are kept cold to avoid losing precious sample material. Also, it takes practice to ensure that Matrigel matrix domes have a consistent, upright structure. Researchers must be careful to avoid over-dispensing or allowing Matrigel matrix to contact the edges of the microplate well, since this can lead to domes spreading or blending into one another.
Automation offers many benefits to scientific research, including greater experimental consistency, less chance of contamination, and higher throughput. It also helps to prevent repetitive strain injury and frees up researchers’ time to be spent on other tasks. For organoid culture, automation promises to maximize the value gained from patient sample material by forming highly reproducible Matrigel matrix domes for more reliable results.
Until now, a bioprinter able to handle Matrigel has not been available. However, with the launch of the Corning Matribot® Bioprinter, researchers can streamline organoid workflows by eliminating many of the manual processes that have traditionally been required. Critically, the Matribot bioprinter minimizes the use of ice buckets to prevent Matrigel matrix from polymerizing. Instead, researchers simply load the mixture of Matrigel matrix and cells into a syringe, insert the syringe into a cooled printhead, and place the microplate on a warmed print bed; the Matribot bioprinter then performs automated droplet dispensing according to user defined parameters. Tight temperature control and precise dispensing ensure consistent Matrigel matrix dome formation.
And because the Matribot bioprinter has only a small footprint, it can easily be placed in a biological safety cabinet – an essential consideration when using patient-derived sample material for organoid research.
To learn more about the Corning Matribot bioprinter and how it can enhance your organoid workflow, visit corning.com/matribot.
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