Cytocentric-Blog
Cytocentric Visionaries: Abhilasha Tiwari, PhD, Monash University
What do you look for when you want real answers? Real questions.
Dr. Abhilasha Tiwari is a SIEF-STEM+ Business Postdoctoral Researcher at The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University. Her work with Graham Jenkin and Mark Kirkland focuses on optimal expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) from umbilical cord blood.
Here, we talk with Dr. Tiwari about her recent publication in Stem Cells and Development, “Impact of Oxygen Levels on Human Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Expansion.” [1] This interview on how pericellular oxygen affects cord blood HSCs was edited for brevity.
Why Optimize MSC Cell Culture Conditions?
Feed a Fibroblast, Starve a Stem Cell
A new publication in Stem Cell Research & Therapy (open access) from Alan Wells’ group at University of Pittsburgh has some highly relevant findings for Mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) culture optimization. MSC are an incredibly valuable cell type for both industrial and research scale cell-based therapeutics. The Wells group reported that in their investigations of the relationships between MSC starvation, autophagy, and differentiation, they stumbled upon a strikingly high glucose consumption rate in comparison with other cell types.1
Cytocentric Visionaries: Shannon Mumenthaler, University of Southern California
Part Two: Oxygen, Cell Morphology, and Time
In Part One of this two-part interview, we talked with Dr. Shannon Mumenthaler about her latest studypublished in Nature’s Open Access Journal, Scientific Reports [1] and her unique combination of high throughput image analysis, heterogeneous cell culture, and full-time control of conditions. Today we talk about adding new dimensions into highly dimensional cell parameter space, including cell shape and time. Read the full interview transcripts below to learn more about how cell morphology can be used to better understand cancer biology.
Cytocentric Visionaries: Shannon Mumenthaler, University of Southern California
Part One: Context is Everything, for Cells and for Scientists
Dr. Shannon Mumenthaler is an Assistant Professor of Research Medicine and Lab Director of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine of USC. She works closely with a multidisciplinary team, including mathematicians for data analysis. Her group’s latest study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports [1] describes a unique technological combination of high-throughput cell imaging with physiologically relevant oxygen levels in a cytocentric barrier isolator.
In Part One of this two-part interview, we talk with Dr. Mumenthaler about her approach for acquiring a better understanding of the complex drug responses of tumors in their natural environment. Read the full transcripts of this interview to learn more about the importance of controlling oxygen in the tumor microenvironment.
Lonza's CytoSMART Lab for Cell Growth under Hypoxia
Full-time Control of Conditions during Cell Handling Enhances the Expansion of Human MSC for Stem Cell Therapies
Research Interest
BioSpherix's scientific laboratory explores Cytocentric™ environments, in vitro spaces designed so that cells are protected from room air at all times, even during cell handling. A controlled environment is essential for good science, yet the conventional open room laboratory provides highly unstable and non-physiologic conditions for cells.
Read more: Lonzas CytoSMART Lab for Cell Growth under Hypoxia
