Long‐Term Perfusion Culture of Monoclonal Embryonic Stem Cells in 3D Hydrogel Beads for Continuous Optical Analysis of Differentiation

Developmental cell biology requires technologies in which the fate of single cells is followed over extended time periods, to monitor and understand the processes of self‐renewal, differentiation, and reprogramming. A workflow is presented, in which single cells are encapsulated into droplets (Ø: 80 µm, volume: ≈270 pL) and the droplet compartment is later converted to a hydrogel bead. After on‐chip de‐emulsification by electrocoalescence, these 3D scaffolds are subsequently arrayed on a chip for long‐term perfusion culture to facilitate continuous cell imaging over 68 h. Here, the response of murine embryonic stem cells to different growth media, 2i and N2B27, is studied, showing that the exit from pluripotency can be monitored by fluorescence time‐lapse microscopy, by immunostaining and by reverse‐transcription and quantitative PCR (RT‐qPCR). The defined 3D environment emulates the natural context of cell growth (e.g., in tissue) and enables the study of cell development in various matrices. The large scale of cell cultivation (in 2000 beads in parallel) may reveal infrequent events that remain undetected in lower throughput or ensemble studies. This platform will help to gain qualitative and quantitative mechanistic insight into the role of external factors on cell behavior. Mouse embryonic stem cell clones are grown in microfluidic microcompartments from single cells. Stem cells proliferate in agarose beads that mimic a natural 3D environment, form clonal colonies, and can be interrogated by optical and molecular analysis.