Sphere Fluidics teams up with ClexBio for hydrogel kit that enables researchers to study cells for longer
Granta Park-based Sphere Fluidics has teamed up with ClexBio for the launch of a biocompatible kit that enables the plug-and-play generation of hydrogel microstructures that will allow researchers to study valuable cells over many weeks, rather than days.
The £750 CYTRIX Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit combines the Norwegian company’s CYTRIX Hydrogel with Sphere Fluidics’ Pico-Gen double aqueous biochip.
This enables defined, reproducible and tailored hydrogel microstructures to be generated for 3D cell culture, organoids, single-cell analysis and other applications.
Researchers can then study their cells of interest in specific microenvironments that mimic the natural extracellular matrix.
Dr Xin Li, associate director of science at Sphere Fluidics, said: “The CYTRIX Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit mimics the 3D microenvironment and help researchers explore the potential of hydrogel-based microfluidics in tissue engineering, drug discovery and regenerative medicine over many weeks.”
The CYTRIX Hydrogel overcomes challenges seen with existing microfluidic hydrogel formation techniques, such as clogging, finicky temperature control or time-critical mixing procedures.
It offers cytocompatibility and microfluidic-optimised gelation kinetics.
This provides researchers with a cell-friendly solution that reduces the effect of harmful temperatures, pH changes and use of UV-light required for existing hydrogel formation techniques.
When used with Sphere Fluidics’ Pico-Gen double aqueous biochip and microfluidics, it enables the efficient encapsulation of mammalian cells, bacteria and other microorganisms in a homogeneous and defined extracellular matrix that supports cell viability.
Dr Armend Håti, CEO and co-founder of ClexBio said: “This exciting collaboration with Sphere Fluidics has enabled us to deliver one of the first commercial solutions that allows simple and cell-friendly formation of cell-laden microgels, lengthening the time that researchers can study the contents of microspheres.”
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