Assembly of FN-silk with laminin-521 to integrate hPSCs into a three-dimensional culture for neural differentiation

This article describes the use of a recombinant spider silk protein functionalized with a cell binding motif from fibronectin in combination with a human recombinant laminin 521 (LN-521) to create a fully defined stem cell niche in 3D. The results show that hPSCs integrated into the foam develop into neural progenitors and that they stay viable during long-term differentiations. The culture system also supports morphogenesis mimicking the human brain development and can serve as base for engineering of hPSC-derived neural tissue. The article describes the 3D culture matrix sold under the name Biosilk®.