3D Stem Cell Printing

Reinnervate recently announced their collaboration with Roslin Cellab in the area of 3D stem cell printing. We caught up with Richard Rowling, Commercial Director at Reinnervate, to learn more about the company, the collaboration, and the importance of 3D culture systems. 

LC: Please tell us about Reinnervate’s vision
Richard Rowling (RR): The vision of Reinnervate is to make 3D cell culture simple and accessible for every single life science laboratory. Alvetex 3D cell culture products improve the biological relevance of cell based assays and models but can be used by any scientist with access to cells, media and an incubator.

LC: How did the Reinnervate/Roslin partnership come about?
RR: Reinnervate approached Roslin Cellab back in 2011, as a leading stem cell company, to test Alvetex for the 3D culture of their proprietary stem cell lines. In 2013, Roslin Cellab then approached Reinnervate about a collaboration around the printing of 3D stem cells as they had positive experience of using Alvetex and working with Reinnervate

LC: What is Alvetex and what are the benefits of using this scaffold?
RR: Alvetex is a polystyrene scaffold that supports the 3D growth of primary cell and cell lines in vitro. Alvetex is extremely easy to use and requires no change in media, reagents or equipment form 2D cell culture. It can be used for mono or co-culture, is available in many different formats and is compatible with all standard cellular and molecular analysis methods (e.g imaging, cell viability testing, gene and protein expression analysis etc)

LC: Why is 3D cell culture so important?
RR: When cells are forced to grow in monolayer (2D) culture, they undergo huge changes in gene/protein expression and their cytoskeleton / cellular structure are completely re-modelled so that they cell can survive on a flat plastic surface. This cell no longer represents a good proxy for cells growing in vivo. 3D cell culture offers scientists a large step towards more biologically relevant cell culture as cells are allowed to retain/re-gain their natural morphology and cellular functionality.

LC: What does the future hold for Reinnervate and 3D culture? 
RR: Continued education of the market, help for scientists who wish to learn about 3D cell culture and then support as they embark on their first 3D cell culture experiments. We continue to develop new formats and new applications based on customer feedback.

Richard Rowling was speaking to Louise Conlin, Editor for Technology Networks. 

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