10-01 :: January 2010
nanotimes
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Research
„Our scaffold is made of natural materials that are Zhensheng Lia, Matthew Leunga, Richard Hopperc,
already FDA-approved for food and biomedical Richard Ellenbogenb, Miqin Zhanga: Feeder-free self-re-
applications. Also, these materials are unlimited, and newal of human embryonic stem cells in 3D porous natu-
the cost is cheap,“ she said. ral polymer scaffolds, In: Biomaterials, Vol. 31(2010), Issue
3, January 2010, Pages 404-412, DOI:10.1016/j.biomate-
Zhang‘s group is now working to build a scaffold lar- rials.2009.09.070:
ger than the current dime-sized prototype, and is col- http.//dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.09.070
laborating with the UW‘s Institute for Stem Cells and
Regenerative Medicine and UW School of Medicine
Image p. 1: A magnified view of the scaffold shows the
to try growing different types of stem cells, including
pores, each about a tenth of a millimeter wide, where
those from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow,
stem cells can grow.
Below: The UW‘s biodegradable scaffold was built as a
in the material. They will try to get the resulting cells
cylinder (right) which was then cut into dime-sized slices.
to differentiate into bone, neuron, muscle and liver
© University of Washington
cells.