The laboratory of Professor Keita Kanki, Department of Bioscience (Biomedical Science Course), has published new findings on a novel technique that improves the survival rate of three-dimensional (3D) cell tissues.

Three-dimensional cell aggregates produced through scaffold-free culture methods are attracting attention as promising tools for regenerative medicine and drug discovery. However, unlike in living organisms, these aggregates lack vascular networks, often leading to nutrient and oxygen deprivation and subsequent cell death.

Rui Zhang, a second-year doctoral student in the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, demonstrated that modifying intracellular energy metabolism with polyphenols produces cells that are more resilient under low-nutrient and low-oxygen conditions. This approach significantly reduces cell death within 3D tissues. The study suggests that this technique may support the construction of larger 3D tissues and enable long-term culture maintenance.

The research paper was published in the Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering (Vol. 140, No. 2) and is available through [ScienceDirect].

In addition, these results were presented as a poster at the 97th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Tissue Culture Association, held at Sanyo-Onoda City University on August 21–22, 2025. Further developments in this line of research are highly anticipated.

[Research Grants]
･ Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) (C) (2022–2024):
“Creation of High-Viability Cell Aggregates via Cell-Death-Suppression Technology and Their Application to
Tissue Engineering”
･ Wesco Science Promotion Foundation Research Grant (2022):
“Development and Application of High-Function 3D Tissues Using Cell-Death-Suppression Technology”