Human is not a Petri dish – Cell culture moves from 2D to 3D
The greatest challenge of traditional cell culture performed on a two-dimensional surface has always been the fact that a human body is not a 2D environment. In order for the cultured cells to function and behave as they do in the human body, the cell growth surface area would have to correspond the natural environment of the cells as accurately as possible. Therefore, this particular project at Tampere University studies 3D cell cultures inside hydrogel.
Janne T. Koivisto, Doctor of Science in Technology, is a native of Tampere, whose Fellowship at the Tampere Institute for Advanced Study of Tampere University started in September 2022. In 2019, Koivisto defended his doctoral dissertation on the development of gellan gum -based hydrogels biomaterials as three-dimensional (3D) growth substrates of human stem cells for disease modelling applications. The primary theme of his current project is the ability of cells to sense the properties of their growth environment in 3D inside hydrogel.
Cell culture is a useful tool in medicine
As the name suggests, cell culture means cultivating human cells in a laboratory environment. The cultured cells can be used to clarify mechanisms linked with various cell functions, such as dividing or differentiation as well as to study for example medication safely and reliably before testing them on animals or humans. Traditionally cells have been cultured in what is called 2D culture, on a one-cell thick surface in a dish made of glass or plastic.
In 3D cell culture, cells grow in a gel-like medium, hydrogel. Hydrogels are a group of materials somewhere between the solid and the liquid. In three-dimensional cell cultures the functions of cells better correspond to their functions inside the human body,
From Petri dishes to growth environment corresponding to real human tissue
In 3D culture, cells can interact with both each other and the extracellular matrix, when their activity better corresponds to that in the tissues.
– In my study, I aim to de-couple the effects of hydrogel’s microstructure and mechanical properties when studying the response the cells have on their surrounding environment. I’m developing 3D growth substrates for cells in cooperation with biologists and researchers in medicine, Koivisto describes.
My research is strongly connected to many break-through concepts in medicine, such as the Nobel-prize-winning induced pluripotent stem cells and the CRISPR-Cas9, a highly precise gene editing tool. I deliver to researchers materials that are needed for reaching the whole potential of these technologies. In my research, I strive for findings that can be more universally used by the scientific community.
In the future, Koivisto hopes to be able to establish his own research group at Tampere University and carry forward the research in biomaterials science conducted in Tampere.
– I want to establish here in Tampere the best research methods I have found. I hope to be able to help my collaborators to proceed from laboratories to patient care, drug development and product commercialization, for example, Koivisto says.
Keywords: cell culture, 3D cell culture, 3D culture substrates, hydrogel, biomaterials science, Tampere University, Tampere Institute for Advanced Study