Multi-Well Plate With Uniform Electric Field (No. 0088)

 
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Summary

A novel multi-will plate that provides a uniform electric field for cell culturing.

The global cell culture market size is projected to reach USD 37,000 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 10.9%. Cell culture is defined as growing live plant, animal or human cells under controlled conditions (in vitro). This artificial environment is composed of nutrients such as ideal temperature, gases, pH, humidity and electric field, which are essential for the growth and proliferation of the cells. However, it is difficult to create a uniform electric field (EF) in in-vitro electric field stimulation devices, particularly standard circular culture-ware. This results in a reduced usable area and cell yield during assays. Here we present a promising multi-well plate developed by a group of researchers led by Prof. Amy Shen. The multi-well plate is designed to produce a uniform electric field to overcome the above problem.

 

Lead Researcher:
Amy Shen

Faculty of Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit

Applications

  • Tissue Engineering
  • Electroporation
  • Protein Production

 

Advantages

  • High cell yield (one order of magnitude)
  • Increased usage culture area (two fold)
  • Modular design for easy adaptability to existing culture-ware

 

   

    Click on the images to enlarge

 

Technology

The technology is based on an insert for a circular-shaped petri dish that can generate a substantially uniform electric field across the petri dish that is filled with a fluid establishing a salt bridge. The insert includes a circular-shaped bottom plate defining a circular-shaped space; a side channel vertically erecting from a circular periphery of said bottom plate; and a pair of current rectifying chambers each having a generally planar shape communicating with the side channel. Also, portions of the side channel bridging the pair of current rectifying chambers each have a generally concave top profile having a lowest point at the center between the pair of current rectifying chambers such that, when the salt bridge is established, the circular-shaped space defined by the bottom plate exhibits a substantially uniform electric field in a substantially entire area of the space. Essentially, a uniform electric field over up to 90% of the area of a circular petri dish is provided.

 

Media Coverage and Presentations

  News: Tampering with the Current in a Petri Dish

 

CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION

  Graham Garner
Technology Licensing Section

  tls@oist.jp
  +81(0)98-966-8937