Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma has been used for biomedical applications. Stimuli of plasma exposure are new factors for controlling cells.

What exactly is happening when cells that constitute living organisms are exposed with plasma?

Understanding the mechanism of plasma stimuli is essential for practically using the technology for guiding the fate of various cells, including iPS cells.

In the conventional plasma exposure systems, it was difficult to deliver directly plasma stimuli to cells cultured in liquid medium. During the delivery process, plasma-generated active species collide with liquid medium molecules. Some of the active species dissipated or turned into other species. Therefore, it was difficult to analyze effects of plasma stimuli.

Taking the advantages of physics in micro scale, we have developed direct plasma stimulation micro system. The name is “Plasma-on-Chip”. Plasma-on-Chip is a powerful tool for studying plasma effects on cells. Our goal is to make a microsystem which enables reliable control of cell fate, and Plasma-on-Chip is a first step toward the goal.