Chinese University of Hong Kong

A compartmentalizing microfluidic device for investigating cancer stem cell migration is described. This novel platform creates a viable cellular microenvironment and enables microscopic visualization of live cell locomotion. Highly motile cancer cells are isolated to study molecular mechanisms of aggressive infiltration, potentially leading to more effective future therapies.

The term anastasis refers to the phenomenon in which dying cells reverse a cell suicide process at a late stage, repair themselves, and ultimately survive. Here we demonstrate protocols for detecting and tracking cells that undergo anastasis.

To detect healthy cells in whole animals that contain low levels of caspase activity, the highly sensitive biosensor designated CaspaseTracker was generated for Drosophila. Caspase-dependent biosensor activity is detected in long-lived healthy cells throughout the internal organs of adult animals reared under optimized conditions in the absence of death stimuli.

Anastasis is technically challenging to detect in vivo because the cells that have reversed the cell death process can be morphologically indistinguishable from normal healthy cells. Here we describe protocols for detecting and tracking cells that undergo anastasis in live animals by using our newly developed in vivo CaspaseTracker biosensor system.

We present a method to quantify DNA methylation based on the 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) dot blot. We determined the 5-mC levels during chondrocyte dedifferentiation. This simple technique could be used to quickly determine the chondrocyte phenotype in ACI treatment.

This article presents a simple and economic protocol for the straightforward isolation and purification of mesenchymal stem cells from New Zealand white rabbit synovial fluid.

Here, we present a protocol to generate a human liver chimeric mouse model of familial hypercholesterolemia using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes. This is a valuable model for testing new therapies for hypercholesterolemia.

Here, we present a protocol to produce a large number of GMP-grade exosomes from synovial fluid mesenchymal stem cells using a 3D bioreactor.

Functional imaging and quantitation of thermogenic adipose depots in mice using a micro-PET/MR imaging-based approach.