Tekmat Corporation used radio-frequency, non-equilibrium plasma reactions to chemically modify the surface of tissue culture plates, and found that their modifications cause significantly improved growth of a variety of cells in monolayer culture in a very limited research program. They propose to test the hypothesis that they can perform an analogous modification on microcarrier beads and achieve the same improvement in cell growth on them. This would bc the first step toward development of a variety of surface modified tissue culture substrata which would support growth of cells otherwise impossible to grow in vitro, and which would improve the efficiency of large scale anchorage dependent cell culture. In performing this research, they seek a better understanding of the surface chemistry factors which effect the adhesion of cells to artificial substrata.Anticipated Results and
Potential Commercial Applications: Academic and industrial biotechnology researchers are continually seeking better materials on which to culture cells. The proposed research will develop surfaces which will: (I) improve the attachment and growth of anchorage dependent cells (e.g., epithelial cells), hence improving the efficiency of such microcarrier cultures; and (2) allow non-anchorage dependent cells (i.e., HeLa, CHO) to grow carrierbound to facilitate separation of these cells and cell culture products.
