Heiko Zimmermann
Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Germany
Title: Improved methods and procedures for pluripotent stem cell preservation, storage stability and validation
Biography
Biography: Heiko Zimmermann
Abstract
The project EBiSC aims to build up a European biobank for research grade human induced pluripotent stem cells (hIPSCs). The vision of EBiSC leads to the demand for upscaled production methods, these kinds of cells leading to the need for automated systems and procedures in stem cell processing and banking. An overview of existing state-of-the-art automation systems is given and the specifications for different applications are compared. Furthermore, modules and concepts for automated cell identification, pluripotency testing, and viability and functionality tests are drawn and results are shown. Scalable label-free analysis of pluripotent stem cells using quantitative life cell imaging and on-line image analysis is shown. A specialized system, the automated hanging drop technique (DropTech®) is shown. The DropTech system allows fully automated cultivation of hiPSCs on micro carrier using the hanging drop technology and enables applications like the automated Embryonic Stem cell Test (EST) for standardized embryo toxicity tests. The last part of the talk deals with the technology of cryopreservation, banking and validation frozen samples. The method of surface-based vitrification of pluripotent stem cells is introduced and the need for a completely closed cool chain is derived from experimental results. Solutions for automated industrial scale biobanking with closed cool chains and with minimal harmful thermal fluctuations are shown and the effect on functionality of cryopreserved cells compared to standard technology is shown. A method for non-invasive monitoring of re-crystallization and de-vitrification effects using Raman micro-spectroscopy is presented.