Instron Partners with BRTI Life on Unique Hydrogel Design for the Tissue Engineering Market

Dr. John H. Brekke is a pioneer in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The firm has developed a unique, biomimetic hydrogel intended as a three-dimensional environment for study of stem cells and their therapeutic applications. Cell-Mate3D, a biomimetic 3D cell culture matrix, is designed to support and enhance cell culture assays. The materials are carefully chosen and processed to create an ideal microenvironment for your cells.

Partnering with Dr Brekke, Instron has provided the instrumentation and mechanical environment to test and tune the stiffness of their product. Tissue-like stiffness mimics the in vivo extracellular environment and resulting mechanical signals influence cell behavior and differentiation potential. BRTI plans to supply Cell-Mate3D in a variety of stiffnesses, from which customers will be able to choose the correct micro-environment for their specific research.

The Instron LigaGen bioreactor system provides axial stress or strain to a construct. The stress/strain profiles can be defined by the user and can be a simple sinusoidal or a physiological waveform. These features allow researchers to design the environment of interest in a reliable and repeatable manner to systematically develop a standard product. The new hydrogel grips, patent pending, use a custom zero-clamp design to provide secure hydrogel gripping without damaging the sample.