Microcarriers are tiny spherical materials used to grow cells in 3D, especially when large numbers of cells are needed. A recent study explored how a commonly used commercial microcarrier compared with newly developed GelMA-based microcarriers that contain interconnected pores. This comparison helps illustrate how microcarrier design can influence cell behaviour. A recent study titled [...]
The Growing Role of Microcarriers in Cell Culture In regenerative medicine, cell therapy, and cultivated meat production, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are vital for creating tissues like bone, cartilage, and muscle. However, producing these cells at a large scale is challenging because MSCs must attach to a surface to grow. To overcome this limitation, [...]
The Science Behind Cell–Material Interactions In large-scale cell culture and regenerative medicine, microcarriers are essential for expanding adherent cells in suspension bioreactors. A 2025 study in the Chemical Engineering Journal by Tian et al. revealed that the mechanical stiffness of these carriers directly influences how human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) grow and maintain their [...]
A 2025 BMC Veterinary Research study shows how microcarriers in spinner flasks enable scalable MSC exosome production with ~81 nm size, stable charge, and high particle yield plus storage, bioactivity, and safety insights. In a recent study… Title: Scalable production of anti-inflammatory exosomes from three-dimensional cultures of canine adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells: production, stability, [...]
Did you know that microcarriers are not only used for large-scale cell expansion, but also for therapeutic regeneration? A recent communication in Materials Horizons by Na-Hyun Lee, Hye Sung Kim, Hae-Won Kim, and colleagues (Dankook University, South Korea), titled “Chondrocyte-mimetic therapeutic microcarriers for synergistic chemo-mechanical signaling in cartilage regeneration,” reports chondrocyte-mimetic therapeutic microcarriers that [...]
We were pleased to host Prof. Kristopher Kilian from UNSW Sydney for our September webinar, where he presented on: Inspired by Nature: Biomaterials Design for Therapeutic Cell Production and Delivery Presentation Highlights Supramolecular, self-healing hydrogels: Prof. Kilian presented Trpzip hydrogels with tuneable mechanics, low yield point, shear-thinning, and self-healing behaviour, along with stress relaxation similar [...]
The global demand for seafood continues to climb. Yet overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution from heavy metals and microplastics make traditional fishing and aquaculture less sustainable every year. One of the most exciting solutions to this challenge is cell-based fish meat, grown directly from fish cells in bioreactors, without needing to raise or harvest [...]
A newly published study in Biomedical Materials validates Smart MCs’ X1 microcarriers, a fully customisable and dissolvable platform for large-scale adherent cell culture. The gelatin-based carriers were shown to outperform a widely used commercial benchmark across multiple sectors, including cultivated meat, regenerative medicine, and vaccine production. This article breaks down what X1 microcarriers are, [...]
Building a Molecular “Lego Set” to Solve the Challenges of Cell Culture We were pleased to welcome Dr. Daniel Peters, CEO and co-founder of MarraBio Ltd, for our July 2025 Smart MCs Webinar, held in collaboration with TCS Biosciences. In this engaging session, Dan introduced a revolutionary approach to mammalian cell culture using [...]
Dengue fever is a serious mosquito-borne illness that affects hundreds of millions of people each year, particularly across Asia, the Pacific, and parts of Australia. There are four types of dengue virus, known as DENV1, DENV2, DENV3, and DENV4. A person can be infected with each type only once, and catching one doesn’t protect [...]
