Webinars
Advanced Cell Mobility Studies Using the Xeno-free VitroGel®-Based Cell Invasion Assay Kits
ON-DEMAND WEBINAR
SPEAKER
Alejandra Ferrer Díaz, Ph.D.
TheWell Bioscience
Research Scientist
WATCH THE WEBINAR
Dr. Alejandra Ferrer Díaz earned her doctorate from Rutgers University, where she studied the interactions between mesenchymal stem cells and breast cancer cells in the bone marrow microenvironment.
She is a research scientist at TheWell Bioscience, primarily focusing on developing and refining cell-based assays and co-culture models using the VitroGel hydrogel system.
Webinar Summary:
Advanced Cell Mobility Studies Using the Xeno-free VitroGel®-Based Cell Invasion Assay Kits
Cell invasion is a dynamic process that is critical during embryonic development, immunosurveillance, and wound healing. Cell invasion is an orchestrated mechanism that occurs due to cell attachment to the extracellular matrix (ECM) followed by proteolytic degradation of the ECM, resulting in movement towards the newly invaded site. Cell invasion is not only crucial for physiological processes but also for cancer cells to metastasize into local and distant regions within the body.
A significant challenge with the traditional invasion assay is the use of animal-based extracellular matrices (ECM): the components of animal-based ECM are not characterized and, as a result, their impact on cell invasion is unknown; the batch-to-batch variability of animal-based ECM can influence experimental findings and affect potential clinical applications; and the temperature-sensitive operation protocols make the homogeneous plate coating process time-consuming and difficult to adapt for automated liquid handlers for high-throughput assays. These challenges can be circumvented using VitroGel®-Based Cell Invasion Assay Kits. These kits are based on the synthetic xeno-free, bio-functional VitroGel hydrogels resembling the physiological ECM with tunable biophysical and biochemical properties. Unlike the traditional animal-based ECM, VitroGel hydrogels can be adapted to evaluate how different mechanical strengths and functional ligands of hydrogel matrices, as well as chemokines, growth factors, cytokines, and serum within the hydrogel matrices or in the outer well affect cell mobility. This system offers a unique property that consists of embedding chemoattractants and chemical agents into the matrix to evaluate chemotaxis more closely.
Key Takeaways:
- Discover 5 (five) new ways to study invasion due to the biophysical and biochemical properties of the VitroGel hydrogels, which can be manipulated, allowing researchers to explore how different ligands, matrix strengths, chemokines, growth factors, and others influence cell invasion.
- Complete 30-minute workflow of VitroGel-Based Cell Invasion Assay Kits.
- Achieve more consistent migration and cell invasion assays with an easier-to-use, temperature-stable, xeno-free hydrogel.
