High-throughput combinatorial screening reveals interactions between signaling molecules that regulate adult neural stem cell fate.

Advancing our knowledge of how neural stem cell (NSC) behavior in the adult hippocampus is regulated has implications for elucidating basic mechanisms of learning and memory as well as for neurodegenerative disease therapy. To date, numerous biochemical cues from the endogenous hippocampal NSC niche have been identified as modulators of NSC quiescence, proliferation, and differentiation; however, the complex repertoire of signaling factors within stem cell niches raises the question of how cues act in combination with one another to influence NSC physiology. To help overcome experimental bottlenecks in studying this question, we adapted a high-throughput microculture system, with over 500 distinct microenvironments, to conduct a systematic combinatorial screen of key signaling cues and collect high-content phenotype data on endpoint NSC populations.

High-Throughput Toxicity and Phenotypic Screening of 3D Human Neural Progenitor Cell Cultures on a Microarray Chip Platform.

A 3D cell culture chip was used for high-throughput screening of a human neural progenitor cell line. The differential toxicity of 24 compounds was determined on undifferentiated and differentiating NPCs. Five compounds led to significant differences in IC values between undifferentiated and differentiating cultures.

Nonconvective mixing of miscible ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are ionic compounds that are liquid at room temperature. We studied the spontaneous mixing behavior between two ILs, ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM][PF6]), and observed notable phenomena. Experimental studies showed that the interface between the two ILs was unusually long-lived, despite the ILs being miscible with one another.

Synergistic cytotoxicity of irinotecan and cisplatin in dual-drug targeted polymeric nanoparticles.

Aim: Two unexplored aspects for irinotecan and cisplatin (I&C) combination chemotherapy are: actively targeting both drugs to a specific diseased cell type, and delivering both drugs on the same vehicle to ensure their synchronized entry into the cell at a well-defined ratio. In this work, the authors report the use of targeted polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) to coencapsulate and deliver I&C to cancer cells expressing the prostate-specific membrane antigen.

Materials & Methods: Targeted NPs were prepared in a single step by mixing four different precursors inside microfluidic devices.