Commercialization of protein-based photoresponsive hydrogels for 3D cell culture applications

Abstract

3D cell culturing technologies are gaining momentum among research institutes and pharmaceutical companies, since they can generate more physiologically relevant data for better prediction and translation of results. Hydrogels, noted for their biomimetic properties, are the leading materials for 3D cell culturing. Although a good number of products have been established and commercialized for the cell culture purpose, few of them enable facile recovery of cells after encapsulation under physiological conditions, which thus presents great challenges for the long-term maintenance of 3D cell culture. Here we present a proprietary recombinant protein hydrogel. This protein-based photoresponsive hydrogel system enables not only 3D cell culture but also easy cell release, thus holding great promise for applications like harmless cell transfer. This thesis also describes the business proposal of a biotech startup, SPES Tech, founded with this core technology in hope of realizing the commercialization of this novel protein hydro gel material.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology