Organoid Innovation Center

2D to 3D Cell Culture

There has been a recent shift toward using 3D cell models in drug discovery and disease modeling, as numerous studies show they better mimic the in vivo environment and provide more physiologically-relevant data than 2D models.

• Article: Making the move from 2D to 3D cell culture: an interview with Molecular Devices’ Jayne Hesley and Jeff McMillan
• Webinar: Getting started with imaging 3D cell models, A collaboration with Molecular Devices and MIMETAS
• Webinar: Transitioning high-content assays to 3D: Scientific opportunities & imaging challenges

3D Biology Articles

Curated 3D biology articles from Molecular Devices subject matter experts, featured in trade publications like BioTechniques and Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.

• Shaping the Future of Organoid Research
• Project Profile: Organoid Innovation Center
• Using 3D cancer cell models to push forward personalized medicine
• View more publications on In-the-News

3D Cancer Cell Research

Cancer involves changes which enable cells to grow and divide without respect to normal limits, to invade and destroy adjacent tissues, and ultimately to metastasize to distant sites in the body. Cancer spheroids mimic tumor behavior far more effectively than standard 2D cell cultures. Such 3D spheroid models are being successfully used in screening environments for identifying potential cancer therapeutics.

Cancer researchers need tools that enable them to more easily study the complex and often poorly understood interactions between cancerous cells and their environment, and to identify points of therapeutic intervention.

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3D Cell Models

3D cell cultures offer the advantage of closely recapitulating aspects of human tissues including the architecture, cell organization, cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, and more physiologically-relevant diffusion characteristics. Utilization of 3D cellular assays adds value to research and screening campaigns, spanning the translational gap between 2D cell cultures and whole-animal models. By reproducing important parameters of the in vivo environment, 3D models can provide unique insight into the behavior of stem cells and developing tissues in vitro.

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Cell Painting

Cell Painting is a high-content, multiplexed image-based assay used for cytological profiling. In a Cell Painting assay, up to six fluorescent dyes are used to label different components of the cell including the nucleus, the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, cytoskeleton, the Golgi apparatus, and RNA. The goal is to “paint” as much of the cell as possible to capture a representative image of the whole cell.

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Customer Breakthrough

Bioneer uses the ImageXpress Micro Confocal for high-throughput imaging of 3D disease models

Revolutionizing early drug discovery for immuno-oncology and neurodegenerative disease modelling: High content imaging of 3D disease models

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Disease Modeling

In this webinar, in collaboration with MIMETAS, we present some of the latest developments in integrating organoid protocols with organ-on-a-chip technology, as well as advancements in the high-content imaging technologies that are enabling these advanced 3D applications. We show how a range of tissue models comprising complex co-cultures can be formed in a perfused system, using state-of-the-art stem cell and organoid protocols, and how such models can then be screened and analyzed within a single, integrated interface to dramatically reduce time to discovery.

• Webinar: High-throughput, organoid-derived organ-on-a-chip systems for drug discovery and disease modelling

Organoids

Organoids are three-dimensional (3D) multi-cellular microtissues that are designed to closely mimic the complex structure and functionality of human organs. Organoids typically consist of a co-culture of cells which demonstrate a high order of self-assembly to allow for an even better representation of complex in vivo cell responses and interactions, as compared to traditional 2D cell cultures.

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Stem Cell Research

Pluripotent stem cells can be used for studies in developmental biology or differentiated as a source for organ-specific cells and used for live or fixed cell-based assays on slides or in multi-well plates. The ImageXpress system has utility in all parts of the stem cell researcher’s workflow, from tracking differentiation, to quality control, to measuring functionality of specific cell types.

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Toxicity Screening

Organoid models have increasingly gained popularity in biologic research and screening to recapitulate complexity of real tissues. To model the in vivo human lungs, we have cultured primary human lung epithelial cells under conditions that promote the formation of 3D structures recapitulating the morphological and functional characteristics of the airway.

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