High throughput scaffoldless 3D tissue culture kit

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Cells have been traditionally grown in the form of planar two-dimensional (2D) constructs with the assumption that they approximate the 3D behaviour of tissues, organs and tumours. Since 2D cell structures cannot accurately mimic cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions among the complex 3D arrangements within living organisms, researchers have pivoted to using three-dimensional (3D) cellular structures to discover and screen drugs. Hence, new methods and devices to produce 3D structures have been developed and commercialized, but all face limitations. They are inordinately time-consuming, require UV light exposure, are toxic towards cells, or are relatively expensive and complex to operate. This has restricted their adoption and wide use across academia and industry. Our method to manipulate cells using diamagnetophoresis to produce 3D cellular structures is a robust and promising alternative. It overcomes the shortcomings of available methods as a label-free, scaffold-free and scalable technique that prints cells rapidly into spheroids or rings of different sizes. We suspend cells in a paramagnetic solution and seed the suspension into microwells that are subsequently placed on a magnet array. Due to the applied magnetic field gradient, diamagnetic cells migrate and form aggregates within three hours. Our field-assisted technique does not require physical inserts or a matrix so that the 3D cellular structures can grow independently. The entire process can be automated and scaled up to produce abundant 3D structures on a multiwell plate. We have demonstrated proof of concept in our laboratory at McMaster University. The technology will be developed further so that system prototypes can be used for testing by identified end-users. Once our technology is validated, we will examine licensing options with interested industry partners.