Tag Archives: Minako Nakajima

Purifying carbon nanotubes with dietary fiber

This work comes out of Japan according to a November 2, 2019 news item on Nanowerk,

A new, cheaper method easily and effectively separates two types of carbon nanotubes. The process, developed by Nagoya University researchers in Japan, could be up-scaled for manufacturing purified batches of single-wall carbon nanotubes that can be used in high-performance electronic devices.

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have excellent electronic and mechanical properties, making them ideal candidates for use in a wide range of electronic devices, including the thin-film transistors found in LCD displays. A problem is that only two-thirds of manufactured SWCNTs are suitable for use in electronic devices. The useful semiconducting SWCNTs must be separated from the unwanted metallic ones. But the most powerful purification process, known as aqueous two-phase extraction, currently involves the use of a costly polysaccharide, called dextran.

Caption: The unwanted metallic SWCNTs deposited at the bottom of the solution, while the wanted semiconducting ones floated to the top. Credit: Haruka Omachi

An October 29, 2019 Nagoya University press release (also on EurekAlert but dated Nov. 2, 2019), which originated the news item, describes how dextran could be replaced with something much cheaper in the SWCNT purification process,

Organic chemist Haruka Omachi and colleagues at Nagoya University hypothesized that dextran’s effectiveness in separating semiconducting from metallic SWCNTs lies in the linkages connecting its glucose units. Instead of using dextran to separate the two types of SWCNTs, the team tried the significantly cheaper isomaltodextran, which has many more of these linkages.

A batch of SWCNTs was left for 15 minutes in a solution containing polyethylene glycol and isomaltodextrin and then centrifuged for five minutes. Three different types of isomaltodextrin were tried, each with a different number of linkages and a different molecular weight. The team found that metallic SWCNTs separated to the bottom isomaltodextrin part of the solution, while the semiconducting SWCNTs floated to the top polyethylene glycol part.

The type of isomaltodextrin with high molecular weight and the most linkages was the most (99%) effective in separating the two types of SWCNTs. The team also found that another polysaccharide, called pullulan, whose glucose units are connected with different kinds of linkages, was ineffective in separating the two types of SWCNTs. The researchers suggest that the number and type of linkages present in isomaltodextrin play an important role in their ability to effectively separate the carbon nanotubes.

The team also found that a thin-film transistor made with their purified semiconducting SWCNTs performed very well.

Isomaltodextrin is a cheap and widely available polysaccharide produced from starch that is used as a dietary fibre. This makes it a cost-effective alternative for the SWCNT extraction process. Omachi and his colleagues are currently in discussions with companies to commercialize their approach. They are also working on improving the performance of thin-film transistors using semiconducting SWCNTs in flexible displays and sensor devices.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Aqueous two-phase extraction of semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes with isomaltodextrin and thin-film transistor applications by Haruka Omachi, Tomohiko Komuro, Kaisei Matsumoto, Minako Nakajima, Hikaru Watanabe, Jun Hirotani, Yutaka Ohno, and Hisanori Shinohara. Applied Physics Express, Volume 12, Number 9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7567/1882-0786/ab369 Published 14 August 2019 • © 2019 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

This paper is open access.

A new platform for culturing stem cells: a Multiplexed Artificial Cellular Microenvironment array

Japanese scientists have developed a more precise method for culturing stem cells according to a March 14, 2017 news item on Nanowerk,

A team of researchers in Japan has developed a new platform for culturing human pluripotent stem cells that provides far more control of culture conditions than previous tools by using micro and nanotechnologies.

The Multiplexed Artificial Cellular Microenvironment (MACME) array places nanofibres, mimicking cellular matrices, into fluid-filled micro-chambers of precise sizes, which mimic extracellular environments.

Caption: The Multiplexed Artificial Cellular Microenvironment (MACME) array, consisted with a microfluidic structure and nanofibre array for mimicking cellular microenvironments. Credit: Kyoto University iCeMS

A March 17, 2017 Kyoto University press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, explains the research in more detail,

Human pluripotent stems cells (hPSCs) hold great promise for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and cell-based therapies because they can become any type of cell. The environment surrounding the cells plays a major role in determining what tissues they become, if they replicate into more cells, or die. However, understanding these interactions has been difficult because researchers have lacked tools that work on the appropriate scale.

Often, stem cells are cultured in a cell culture medium in small petri dishes. While factors such as medium pH levels and nutrients can be controlled, the artificial set up is on the macroscopic scale and does not allow for precise control of the physical environment surrounding the cells.

The MACME array miniaturizes this set up, culturing stem cells in rows of micro-chambers of cell culture medium. It also takes it a step further by placing nanofibers in these chambers to mimic the structures found around cells.

Led by Ken-ichiro Kamei of Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), the team tested a variety of nanofiber materials and densities, micro-chamber heights and initial stem cell densities to determine the best combination that encourages human pluripotent stem cells to replicate.

They stained the cells with several fluorescent markers and used a microscope to see if the cells died, replicated or differentiated into tissues.

Their analysis revealed that gelatin nanofibers and medium-sized chambers that create medium seed cell density provided the best environment for the stem cells to continue to multiply. The quantity and density of neighboring cells strongly influences cell survival.

The array is an “optimal and powerful approach for understanding how environmental cues regulate cellular functions,” the researchers conclude in a recently published paper in the journal Small.

This array appears to be the first time multiple kinds of extracellular environments can be mounted onto a single device, making it much easier to compare how different environments influence cells.

The MACME array could substantially reduce experiment costs compared to conventional tools, in part because it is low volume and requires less cell culture medium. The array does not require any special equipment and is compatible with both commonly used laboratory pipettes and automated pipette systems for performing high-throughput screening.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Microfluidic-Nanofiber Hybrid Array for Screening of Cellular Microenvironments by Ken-ichiro Kamei, Yasumasa Mashimo, Momoko Yoshioka, Yumie Tokunaga, Christopher Fockenberg, Shiho Terada, Yoshie Koyama, Minako Nakajima, Teiko Shibata-Seki, Li Liu, Toshihiro Akaike, Eiry Kobatake, Siew-Eng How, Motonari Uesugi, and Yong Chen. Small DOI: 10.1002/smll.201603104 Version of Record online: 8 MAR 2017

© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

This paper is behind a paywall.

Matrix of gelatin nanofibres for culturing large quantities of human stem cells

A Feb. 14, 2017 news item on ScienceDaily describes work that may have a big influence on stem cell production,

A new nanofiber-on-microfiber matrix could help produce more and better quality stem cells for disease treatment and regenerative therapies.

A matrix made of gelatin nanofibers on a synthetic polymer microfiber mesh may provide a better way to culture large quantities of healthy human stem cells.

Developed by a team of researchers led by Ken-ichiro Kamei of Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), the ‘fiber-on-fiber’ (FF) matrix improves on currently available stem cell culturing techniques.

A Feb. 14/15, 2017 Kyoto University press release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, explains why scientists are trying to find a new way to culture stem cells,

Researchers have been developing 3D culturing systems to allow human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to grow and interact with their surroundings in all three dimensions, as they would inside the human body, rather than in two dimensions, like they do in a petri dish.

Pluripotent stem cells have the ability to differentiate into any type of adult cell and have huge potential for tissue regeneration therapies, treating diseases, and for research purposes.

Most currently reported 3D culturing systems have limitations, and result in low quantities and quality of cultured cells.

Kamei and his colleagues fabricated gelatin nanofibers onto a microfiber sheet made of synthetic, biodegradable polyglycolic acid. Human embryonic stem cells were then seeded onto the matrix in a cell culture medium.

The FF matrix allowed easy exchange of growth factors and supplements from the culture medium to the cells. Also, the stem cells adhered well to the matrix, resulting in robust cell growth: after four days of culture, more than 95% of the cells grew and formed colonies.

The team also scaled up the process by designing a gas-permeable cell culture bag in which multiple cell-loaded, folded FF matrices were placed. The system was designed so that minimal changes were needed to the internal environment, reducing the amount of stress placed on the cells. This newly developed system yielded a larger number of cells compared to conventional 2D and 3D culture methods.

“Our method offers an efficient way to expand hPSCs of high quality within a shorter term,” write the researchers in their study published in the journal Biomaterials. Also, because the use of the FF matrix is not limited to a specific type of culture container, it allows for scaling up production without loss of cell functions. “Additionally, as nanofiber matrices are advantageous for culturing other adherent cells, including hPSC-derived differentiated cells, FF matrix might be applicable to the large-scale production of differentiated functional cells for various applications,” the researchers conclude.

Human stem cells that grew on the ‘fiber-on-fiber’ culturing system

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Nano-on-micro fibrous extracellular matrices for scalable expansion of human ES/iPS cells by Li Liu, Ken-ichiro Kamei, Momoko Yoshioka, Minako Nakajima, Junjun Li, Nanae Fujimoto, Shiho Terada, Yumie Tokunaga, Yoshie Koyama, Hideki Sato, Kouichi Hasegawa. Biomaterials Volume 124, April 2017, Pages 47–54  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.01.039

This paper is behind a paywall.