Discussion

It is now widely accepted that cells drastically alter their structure and function when cultured on conventional 2D surfaces. This can make traditional cell culture a poor proxy for real tissues. I will discuss the advantages of three dimensional (3D) cell culture technology and lead onto the development of solutions for generating real 3D cell cultures simply and routinely. Various case studies and data will be presented showing how cells growing on scaffolds possess improved viability, functionality and form complex structures not seen with traditional 2D cell culture.