Cell Guidance Systems, a specialist in the control, manipulation and monitoring of cells, and Manchester BIOGEL, a biotechnology company specialising in 3D synthetic peptide hydrogels, have announced a collaboration to launch PODS-PeptiGels.
The new kit combines the benefits of two existing innovative cell culture technologies – synthetic peptide hydrogels (PeptiGels) and a range of sustained-release growth factors (PODS) – to provide a reproducible and highly adaptable environment for 3D cell culture.
PODS-PeptiGels incorporates Cell Guidance Systems’ POlyhedrin Delivery System (PODS) and Manchester BIOGEL’s biologically relevant hydrogels (PeptiGels). The ready-to-use kit allows researchers to mix and match to suit the aims of their research by selecting from more than 70 growth factors and combining with hundreds of combinations of hydrogels, each with mechanical and biomimetic tuneability.
Providing researchers with an all-in-one, animal free solution for 3D cell culture applications, the PeptiGel hydrogel, available in a variety of gel stiffness and cell adhesion motifs, is produced using synthetic peptides reducing batch variations and enables reproducible results. The PODS crystal protects the growth factor cargo allowing sustained release over a longer period, thereby reducing the frequency of media changes required and minimising growth factor concentration cycles.