Water-Based Cell Culture Could Change the Way We Fight Disease
Prof. Dyab and Prof. Burska in collaboration with Prof. Paunov’s research group published a ground-breaking review highlights the emerging role of Aqueous Two-Phase Systems (ATPS) in 3D cell culture-a transformative advancement in biomedical research. Work is published in journal of “Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science” (top 10%- Scopus)
Imagine growing tiny versions of human tissues in the lab-without using animals or complex synthetic materials. That’s exactly what researchers at Nazarbayev University are helping to do with a gentle, water-based method called Aqueous Two-Phase Systems (ATPS).
Unlike traditional oil-based systems, ATPS leverages water-in-water emulsions to more accurately mimic the in vivo environment, allowing cells to form realistic structures like spheroids, clusteroids, and tissue-like networks without the need for scaffolds.
This technique allows scientists to grow 3D “mini-tissues” using simple ingredients like sugar-like polymers and salts in water. These droplets form little compartments where human cells naturally come together, just like they do in the body. Because it's safe and cell-friendly, ATPS is being used to test new drugs, study diseases like cancer, and even help design artificial organs.
This technology has opened new frontiers in cancer research, drug testing, and tissue engineering by supporting high cell viability and enabling precise modeling of human tissues. The ATPS approach is particularly promising for high-throughput screening, personalized medicine, and ethical alternatives to animal testing.
Furthermore, the review discusses how ATPS can be integrated into microfluidic devices and 3D bioprinting platforms, offering unparalleled control over cell patterning and drug delivery studies. Stabilizing these delicate emulsions remains a technical challenge, but innovations such as Pickering emulsions and stimuli-responsive polymers are paving the way forward.
By enabling more physiologically relevant cell environments, ATPS-based techniques are poised to reshape the future of biomedical science.