Advancing 3D Cell Culture: How Gelomics Platforms Help You Model Human Biology More Realistically
By Henna Salo
A practical overview for researchers interested in physiologically relevant 3D cell culture models
2D cell culture is a limited model for mimicking real biology. Usually, only one cell type is cultured. An alternative with ethical issues, and in many cases, not reflecting human physiology would be using animal models. Both FDA and EMA are working on phasing out animal experiments and the future is doing tests in 3D cell cultures, organoids and tissue culture.
Meet Gelomics – pioneer of preclinical 3D models
The core of Gelomics’ product portfolio consists of semisynthetic LunaX gel kits and the LunaX Crosslinker. Together, they enable tunable 3D cultures where you can adjust matrix stiffness to better match the tissue you want to model.
Traditional cell culture matrices on the market are often derived from animal tissues. This leads to batch-to-batch variability because the matrix composition depends on the source animals, making experimental consistency difficult.
A second limitation is that the mechanical stiffness of these matrices (e.g. Matrigel like) is not easily adjustable to match specific tissues. For example, brain tissue is very soft compared to bone, and tumor microenvironments often become stiffer as disease progresses. In tumor invasion models, matrix stiffness has been shown to drive epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), which has been shown to play a role in the tumorigenic process (Brabletz et al . 2018). As an example, Gelomics has been able to show that MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line becomes more invasive in stiff matrix (See image below). LunaX gels from Gelomics are designed to address these challenges by providing a reproducible, tunable matrix for 3D cell culture.
Selection of LunaX gels:
| Cat. no | Product | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GEL-SKU0007 | LunaX™ CoreMatrix, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) | LunaGel™ - Fish Gelatin, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0002 | LunaX™ MultiMatrix, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) | LunaGel™ - Porcine Skin Gelatin, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0005 | LunaX™ TissueMatrix, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) | LunaGel™ - Bovine Bone Gelatin, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0017 | LunaX™ PureMatrix, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) | LunaGel™ Ultrapure GelMA, Low Stiffness (0 - 6.5 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0011 | LunaX™ CoreMatrix, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) | LunaGel™ - Fish Gelatin, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0012 | LunaX™ MultiMatrix, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) | LunaGel™ - Porcine Skin Gelatin, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0009 | LunaX™ TissueMatrix, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) | LunaGel™ - Bovine Bone Gelatin, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) |
| GEL-SKU0018 | LunaX™ PureMatrix, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) | LunaGel™ Ultrapure GelMA, High Stiffness (0 - 25 kPa) |
Local support in Sweden
BioNordika is your local partner for Gelomics in Sweden, ready to support you in planning and implementing 3D experiments. We can help you choose the right LunaX kit and stiffness range for your application and cell type.
Did you get interested? Reach out to us to book a demo and discuss how Gelomics could fit into your current workflows.
References:
Brabletz, T., Kalluri, R., Nieto, M. et al. EMT in cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 18, 128–134 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.118
