Kimheak Sao

Temporal-coded NP Cells on Soft Substrate 

A color-coded, composite image of Nucleus Pulposus Cells isolated from a rat’s intervertebral disc cultured on a soft substrate. This soft material influences cells’ shaping and clustering to resemble how they would interact in the human body. This helps us answer fundamental questions about how cells may behave in healthy versus degenerated, fibrotic tissue in a Petri dish. We can then better understand the underlying mechanisms of disease states and elucidate targets of interest.