Bioreactor Filtration and Pressure Control for Printed Tissue Viability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current tissue engineering methods face challenges in maintaining the positional stability of structures within granular gels while ensuring nutrient flow and waste removal, leading to potential cellular viability issues and lack of reproducibility in tissue creation.
Innovation Solution
A bioreactor system with controlled fluid dynamics and filtration zones maintains tissue viability by using differential pressure to manage nutrient flow and waste, combined with automated processes for cell expansion, bio-ink creation, and tissue growth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If fluid pressure gradient is increased to improve nutrient flow and waste removal, then material flow rate is improved, but structures may move excessively causing cellular viability compromise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a porous scaffold structure that allows nutrient and waste flow through its interconnected pores. This porous architecture enables material transport without requiring high pressure gradients, thus preventing structure displacement while maintaining cellular viability through adequate nutrient supply and waste removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a supportive matrix or scaffold as an intermediary between the cells and the fluid flow. This scaffold acts as a mediator that allows nutrient and waste transport while providing structural support to prevent excessive movement of cell aggregates, thereby resolving the conflict between flow rate and structure stability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If fluid pressure gradient is decreased to maintain structure positional stability, then structure position is improved, but material flow rate becomes too low for effective nutrient supply and waste removal
Solution Approach 1:
The porous scaffold provides a three-dimensional network with interconnected pores that facilitate passive diffusion and convection of nutrients and waste products. This structure enables adequate material transport at low pressure gradients, maintaining both positional stability and sufficient flow rate for tissue viability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional cell cultures to three-dimensional tissue constructs with porous architectures. This dimensional change creates internal flow pathways that allow efficient nutrient and waste transport throughout the tissue volume without requiring high pressure gradients, thus maintaining positional stability while ensuring adequate material flow.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual and empirical tissue engineering processes are used, then flexibility in tissue creation is maintained, but reproducibility and quality assurance are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs pre-designed scaffold architectures and standardized cell seeding protocols that are established before tissue creation begins. These preliminary preparations include defined pore sizes, interconnectivity patterns, and cell attachment sites that ensure reproducible tissue formation while allowing flexibility in tissue type and scale through modular design approaches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes controllable parameters such as scaffold pore size, porosity, mechanical properties, and cell seeding density that can be systematically adjusted to create different tissue types and scales. By establishing standardized parameter ranges and optimization protocols, the system achieves both reproducibility across experiments and flexibility in tissue design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures the positional stability of tissues within granular gels, enabling efficient nutrient supply and waste removal, thereby enhancing cellular viability and reproducibility in tissue creation.
Implementation Method 1
supply a fluid or pneumatic pressure gradient on an upstream reservoir or plenum to encourage flow through the granular gel and any cells or structures suspended in the gel
Implementation Method 2
The system can include at least one filtration zone positioned between the incoming chamber and the tissue growth chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for growing and maintaining biological material including producing a protein associated with the tissue, selecting cells associated with the tissue, expanding the cells, creating at least one tissue bio-ink including the expanded cells, printing the at least one tissue bio-ink in at least one tissue growth medium mixture, growing the tissue from the printed at least one tissue bio-ink, and maintaining viability of the tissue.