| abstract |
Provided herein are methods for culturing cells, including stimulating or expanding (proliferating), a plurality of cells in a composition of cells such as a population of lymphocytes. In some aspects, provided methods and reagents for the culturing, such as stimulation or expansion (proliferation), of cell populations involve binding of agents to a molecule on the surface of the cells, thereby providing one or more signals to the cells. In some cases, the reagents are multimerization reagents and the one or more agents are multimerized by reversibly binding to the reagent. In some aspects, the multimerized agent can provide for expansion or proliferation or other stimulation of a population of cells, and then such stimulatory agents can be removed by disruption of the reversible bond. Also provided are compositions, apparatus and methods of use thereof. |