expansion of cd133(+) umbilical cord blood derived hematopoietic stem cells on a biocompatible microwells.

umbilical cord blood (ucb) as a source of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (hspcs) used for umbilical cord blood transplantation (ucbt). the main obstacle in application of this source as an appropriate source of hspcs is low volume of this product. so ex vivo expansion of these cells in a microenvironment which mimic body condition is important. in current study we designed biocompatible microwells in which collagene type i is coated by softlitography method. our findings designated that in 3-dimensional (3d) microenvironment cd133(+) ucb derived hsc expanded significantly compared to 2-dimensional (2d) microenvironment.