Integrated micro culture device for fully automated closed culture experiment of embryonic body

This paper reports the development of a palm-size device called “PASMA (Pressure Actuated Shapable Microwell Array)” for formation, differentiation and analysis of embryonic bodies (EBs). By incorporating a transparent heat film, sterilized water including cotton and CO₂ generation agents, PASMA realized miniaturization of the whole process of EB experiments in one chip without a conventional big incubator. EB fabrication from human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells) were successfully conducted using this system. The massively parallel analysis system “PASMA” should accelerate the regenerative medicine as a total EB research platform.