One of the challenges in generating in vivo like cultures or tissue in vitro is the difficulty in co-culturing different cell types. Because of the ability of 3D cell culturing by magnetic levitation to bring cells together, co-culturing different cell types is possible. Co-culturing of different cell types can be achieved at the onset of levitation, by mixing different cell types in before levitation or by magnetically guiding 3D cultures in an invasion assay format.
The unique ability to manipulate cells and shape tissue magnetically offers new possibilities for controlled co-culturing and invasion assays. Co-culturing in a realistic tissue architecture is critical for accurately modeling in vivo conditions, such as for increasing the accuracy of cellular assays as shown in the figure below.
Shown in the picture above is an invasion assay of magnetically levitated multicellular spheroids; fluorescence images of human glioblastoma (GBM) cells (green; GFP-expressing cells) and normal human astrocytes (NHA) (red; mCherry-labelled) cultured separately and then magnetically guided together (left, time 0). Invasion of GBM into NHA in 3D culture provides a powerful new assay for basic cancer biology and drug screening (right, 12h to 252h).