A group of biomedical engineers from Brown University has developed a three-dimensional Petri dish that can produce cells in three dimensions. This method may quickly and cheaply grow more realistic cells for use the applications for drug development and tissue transplantation.The practice involves the use of a new dish that permits cells to naturally self-assemble and materialize into “microtissues.” This 3-D Petri dish is skillfully made from a sugary substance that has long been used in science laboratories. This invention is reported in the journal Tissue Engineering and how this 3-D dish works is also detailed.

Brown professor of medical science and engineering, Jeffrey Morgan, was quoted to have said that this 3-D dish is a new technology that offers a lot of promise in the progress of biomedical research. This 3-D Petri dish was conceived and created by Morgan, along with a team of Brown students as headed by Anthony Napolitano, who is a candidate for Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. According to Napolitano, this technology is an inexpensive and easy-to-use option to other existing 3-D cell culture methods.

The technology engages in an area of increasing interest to scientists. This is the creation of hothouse cells that appear and behave more like cells that have developed in the human body. Since 1877, cell cultures were depended on the Petri dish. However, the cultured cells tend to set at the bottom of the dishes and spread out as they reproduce. In comparison, cells do not develop in such manner when inside the body. Instead, the cells are surrounded by other cells in three dimensions, developing tissues like skin, muscle, and bone. This is the condition that is mimicked by Morgan’s 3-D dish.

This dish is clear and rubbery. It is approximately the size of a silver dollar and was created from a water-based gel. Such material is made of a complex carbohydrate long used in molecular biology called, agarose. The use of this gel as raw material in fashioning the Petri dish has advantages. One of its benefits is that the material is porous. As such, nutrients and waste are permitted to flow. Another would be the non-adhesive properties of the material. As such, the cultured cells do not stick to it as in the case of ordinary Petri dishes. Moreover, the 3-D dish is fashioned with close quarters that enable the cells to self-assemble. As a result, natural cell-to-cell connections are formed. Furthermore, such process was quick, taking less than 24 hours.

In tissue culture procedures, another instrument that is in use is an inverted phase contrast microscope or darkfield microscopy. This type of microscope aids in the close examination of cell cultures and liquid deposits.
An inverted phase contrast microscope or a darkfield microscopy is a microscope that is fashioned with its light source and condenser placed above the stage. The condenser and light source of a darkfield microscopy are faced-down. Also, the objectives and turret of a darkfield microscopy are positioned below the stage, facing up.

The viewer must first check the alignment of the phase rings or every time an objective is changed before using a darkfield microscopy. Specimens for observation are deposited in a large container, like a tissue culture flask. Then such is viewed from the bottom of such when using a darkfield microscopy. When not in use, a darkfield microscopy must be covered and the lights must be turned down.Original article