Growing spheroids in paper cones

Spheroids are a cluster of cells, especially cancer cells. Culturing cells into a 3D cluster is very useful in cancer research. Such clusters can be used for investigating fundamental aspects of the disease and drug development.

Cells grown in a dish usually do not grow into a spheroid. They rather spread on the surface of the dish. The conventional method for making spheroids is the hanging drop technique, where a drop containing cells is kept upside down. Eventually, the cells fall to the apex of the drop and grow as a spheroid. This technique encounters limitations due to smaller drop volumes, leading to nutrient starvation and restricted culture duration. It is impossible to hang a large drop as it falls.

In this study, we present a straightforward approach to creating superhydrophobic paper cones capable of accommodating large volumes of culture media drops. These paper cones have sterility, autoclavability, and bacterial repellent properties. Leveraging these attributes, we successfully generate large spheroids of ovarian cancer cells and, as a proof of concept, conduct drug screening to assess the impact of carboplatin. Thus, our method enables the preparation of flexible superhydrophobic surfaces for laboratory applications in an expeditious manner, exemplified here through spheroid formation and drug screening demonstrations

Published in Biomicrofluidics 18, 024107 (2024)