SA experts develop cell tech
2010-08-30 12:13
Cape Town - Scientists in SA have developed a unique system to culture cells that could have an impact in the development of more effective medications and technologies.
"With the development of drugs you need to replicate the body's system with cell cultures. The 2D system has limitations because the body is a 3D structure," CSIR researcher Avashnee Chetty told News24.
She said that the closer a cell culture methodology was able to replicate the body system, its accuracy would result in more effective drugs to tackle disease.
"We've developed a structure - a scaffold - for the cells to attach. Cells need a surface to attach while they're growing and there are scaffolds available, but our one is newer technology."
Chetty said that the new scaffold would enable cells to cultured in an environment that far more closely resembles the human body, including giving researchers the ability to feed the cells nutrients, while remaining sterile.
Intelligent polymer
"There are two types of cells - anchorage dependant and suspension dependant - and those anchorage dependant cells need a surface to grow. Once they have saturated the scaffold, we have to release them, and previously we used an enzyme."
She said that the enzyme would degrade the cell's membrane and result in the cells being unable to communicate with each other. To construct the scaffold, South African researchers developed the use of an "intelligent polymer" - plastic that is able to change its properties.
"We've used a polymer - an intelligent material that is able to change its surface properties, depending on the temperature. This way, we don't need enzymes and we can keep the temperature at a level that is friendly for the cells."
According to Chetty, there are only four cell culture banks in the world and it is expensive to buy cells for research. It is therefore critical that cells were cultured with the minimum of destruction in a labour intensive exercise.
"We don't have a culture bank in South Africa, and we need to import cells we want to use. Typically, you'd need one billion cells and they'd have to be transported at -80°C. When you are culturing them in the laboratory, it could days or weeks and you'd have to be in the lab every day, checking on them.
"The more human interventions you have, the higher your chance on contamination. And if that happens, you have to start from scratch. That's why we wanted to develop a completely automated system."
Patent
She said that the process has been challenging, and they face a battle as a patent for the technology exists.
"We have a bio-reactor, but we haven't completely automated the system yet. We discovered there was a patent from a group in Japan, but not published statements. We were alerted to this when we filed for our patent, so we changed our system slightly and we think it will be granted a patent."
Chetty said that the methodology would be an advantage to new areas of research.
"Growing stem cells is a future possibility with this process, because it allows the mass growth of cells."
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