Improving relevance of stem cell culture using cell-derived matrices that mimic human physiology

Despite overwhelming evidence demonstrating the important role of the extracellular matrix in regulating cell behavior, traditional cell culture strategies do little to recreate a natural microenvironment.  Presently, standard culture conditions inevitably lead to phenotypic drift, spontaneous differentiation, replicative senescence, and aberrant phenotypes that are unlike those found in the body.  This may lead to experimental artifact in basic research or suboptimal clinical outcomes in translational research.

To address this challenge, we focused our efforts on developing in vitro culture substrates that closely mimic natural microenvironments.  Here we describe the development of scale-able, tissue-specific, cell-derived extracellular matrices for cell culture, and their applications in basic and translation research.

Presenter – Dr. Travis Block, Senior Scientist StemBiosys

Dr. Travis Block earned a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UT Health San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio in Biomedical Engineering. Currently, Dr. Block serves as senior scientist for StemBioSys and adjunct professor in the school of dentistry at UT Health San Antonio. StemBioSys aims to catalyze progress in regenerative medicine by developing high-quality, innovative tools. Their core technology is cell-derived extracellular matrices for cell culture.