Nankai team develops stem cell bionic empowerment system

"Qifu" Stem Cell Biomimetic Empowerment System Micro-environment Model Photo courtesy of Nankai University

With the continuous deepening of human exploration in the field of life sciences, stem cell research and application have become one of the hotspots of the scientific community and the global biomedical industry, and it has also become an important scientific and technological strategy of many countries, including China
.
Despite its broad prospects, the research and application of stem cells still face many problems that need to be solved.

Professor Yang Jun’s research group from the School of Life Sciences of Nankai University, based on more than 20 years of continuous research, has developed a stem cell prevention and empowerment system that can simulate the microenvironment in the body, which effectively solves the current low efficiency, high cost, and high cost of stem cell culture in vitro.
Problems such as poor safety and impaired intergenerational functions have helped stem cell research to be better applied
.
"Qifu", a student innovation and entrepreneurship team with members of the research group as the backbone, is committed to bringing this research result to the market

Stem cells are a type of cells that exist in the body during human development and after adulthood.
They have the characteristics of self-replication and multidirectional differentiation.
They are often used in scientific research such as growth and development, disease occurrence, and drug screening
.
In addition, stem cells can also be used for disease treatment, such as: embryonic stem cell differentiation of the cornea brings light to patients, umbilical cord hematopoietic stem cells are used to treat inherited or acquired hematopoietic diseases, and mesenchymal stem cells are immune to autoimmunity.

However, it is often difficult to obtain stem cells and the number is extremely limited
.
In order to obtain a sufficient number of stem cells for treatment, they must be expanded in vitro

According to the researchers, the current stem cell culture system has four major pain points-insufficient proliferation capacity and low cell yield; loss of function and poor therapeutic effect; low purity of stem cells and high safety risks; scarce cell resources and high production costs
.
In short, the existing culture system can easily cause the problems of insufficient, unusable, unusable, and unusable stem cells

"This is due to the fact that the culture surface used for general stem cell expansion cannot well mimic the in vivo microenvironment
.
" According to Chen Guoqiang, the head of the "Qifu" team and a doctoral student in the School of Life Sciences, Nankai University, there is no A cell is in an isolated state, and the interaction between cells is particularly important

So, how to realize the construction of in vitro microenvironment? The research team started with stem cell bionic culture materials to fully optimize the supporting culture system
.

First, the research team screened a variety of intercellular interaction proteins, analyzed their genes and protein sequences, then selected several genes to construct fusion protein genes using genetic engineering technology, and stably prepared artificial matrix protein products in batches through biosynthesis technology, and finally used nano-coating.
Layer technology forms an artificial matrix protein coating on the surface of traditional materials to achieve surface functional modification
.

The core product prepared by the "Qifu" team through advanced genetic engineering technology has a clear and stable matrix composition, mass-produced purity >95%, and is a human-derived protein, which can better regulate human-derived stem cells and is safer
.
At the same time, the "Qifu" stem cell empowerment system builds a large-scale core protein for cell interaction, which well realizes the bionics of the in vivo microenvironment on the culture plane, so that cell functions can be maintained

"Our culture technology complements the last'pillar', the biomimetic stem cell microenvironment, which builds a home for stem cell survival in vitro, and is also a warm and comfortable'sun room', achieving efficient proliferation, safe use, functional enhancement and Four major effects of cost reduction
.
" Chen Guoqiang said

"In order to achieve the best stem cell culture effect, the various components of the culture system have been optimized in detail, from the composition ratio of the culture medium, the action time to the selection of the culture medium and the composition of the cell digestion solution, more than hundreds of attempts have been made
.
" Introduction of Qin Zheng, the backbone of the project
.

After the stem cell expansion technology matured, the "Qifu" team started the development of an enabling system for different uses of stem cells
.
The behavior of stem cells is affected by the microenvironment in which they are located.
For stem cells to perform their designated functions, they need to be precisely regulated through the microenvironment
.

In order to achieve this goal, the "Qifu" team has continuously optimized the culture system by consulting various diseases and related papers on occurrence and development, and has successively developed four stem cell empowerment systems, including myocardial repair, vascular regeneration, immune regulation, and joint repair
.
In the corresponding disease model mouse experiment, compared with the stem cells cultured on the surface of the traditional matrix, the stem cells empowered by "Qifu" have a more significant therapeutic effect
.

Up to now, the related technologies involved in the "Qifu" stem cell prevention and empowerment system have obtained more than ten domestic and foreign invention patents, and more than 100 scientific papers have been published
.
Based on the leading bionic construction technology and good experimental results, the "Qifu" team has also actively transformed the research results into products, simplifying the combination of artificial matrix protein and its supporting culture system to form a simple and easy-to-use kit product
.

"At present, our team has reached a good cooperative relationship with domestic stem cell manufacturers and related medical institutions, and provided the products to cooperative units for trial, and received good feedback
.
In the future, we hope to adopt a market-oriented approach to The large-scale introduction of the'Qifu' series of products into the market has truly helped China's stem cell research and application
.
"

Related paper links: https://onlinelibrary.
wiley.
com/doi/10.
1002/adhm.
201600114