Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Development And Characterization Of Adhesive Hydrogels For Stem Cell Culture, Erin Byrne Rousseau

Nanoscale Science & Engineering (discontinued with class year 2014)

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) offer the unique capacity to differentiate into almost any cell type and have sweeping implications in both basic research and clinical applications. However, unregulated differentiation can cause issues, preventing ESCs from entering clinical research. In order to maximize ESC growth, three dimensional culturing has been utilized in order to have results more similar to in vivo conditions. In the case of alginate scaffolds, cell adhesion sites are missing from the matrix, leading to differentiation. We propose that the inclusion of adhesive polymer to the alginate scaffold will increase cell attachment and maintain pluripotency. The polymer …