Hanging Drop Plate Conduit Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current hanging drop technologies require manual inversion of the substrate, making them difficult to automate and limiting mass production and compatibility with robotic systems, especially when handling small liquid volumes and cell numbers.
Innovation Solution
A hanging drop plate with a body featuring a conduit that mouths into the drop contact area from the first surface, eliminating the need for substrate inversion and enabling automated medium exchange and cell seeding, while using relief structures to prevent liquid spreading and control drop size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If manual inversion of the substrate is used to create hanging drops, then the hanging drop configuration is achieved, but the process becomes difficult to automate and incompatible with robotic systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional hanging drop approach by keeping the substrate horizontal and delivering liquid through conduits from the top surface. This eliminates the need to physically invert the substrate while still creating hanging drop configurations, thereby enabling automation compatibility without sacrificing the hanging drop benefit
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces conduits as an intermediary mechanism to deliver liquid to the drop contact areas. These conduits act as mediators that enable automated liquid delivery through robotic systems while maintaining the hanging drop configuration, bridging the gap between automation requirements and hanging drop formation
2Manufacturing precision
If sharp-edged relief structures are used to limit drop contact area, then larger drops of equal dimension are achieved, but the structures become more complex and difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the parameters of the relief structures by using rounded edges instead of sharp edges. This parameter change maintains the ability to control drop size and contact area while significantly simplifying the manufacturing process, making the structures easier to fabricate with standard techniques
3Reliability
If cells are cultured in 3D configuration using scaffold materials or stacking, then physiological relevance is improved, but the process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the need for scaffold materials and complex stacking procedures by using a simplified approach: a horizontal substrate with conduits that deliver liquid to create hanging drops. This extraction of unnecessary components maintains 3D cell culture physiological relevance while dramatically reducing process complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The hanging drop configuration itself serves as the 3D culture environment without requiring additional scaffold materials. The liquid medium in the hanging drop naturally provides the 3D structure needed for physiological relevance, making the system self-sufficient and eliminating the need for external scaffolding components
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
This design allows for convenient 3D cell culture without scaffolds, adaptable to various cell types, enabling size control of cell aggregates, automated generation of microtissues, and efficient medium exchange, making 3D cell culture as routine as 2D culture processes, suitable for high-throughput applications.
Implementation Method 1
The surface tension of the drop prevents the cells as well as the cell aggregates from penetrating the droplet surface
Implementation Method 2
a liquid volume is applied to a drop contact area through a conduit that mouths into the drop contact area from the direction of the first surface of the body
Data Source
AI summary
A hanging drop plate and a method of cultivating cells or of producing molecular aggregates in at least one liquid volume that adheres to a drop contact area of such a hanging drop plate. The hanging drop plate has a body with a first surface and a second surface that is essentially coplanar to the first surface. The second surface has a drop contact area for adherently receiving a liquid volume. The drop contact area is distinguished from a surrounding area by a relief structure that prevents spreading of the liquid volume on the second surface of the body. The body has at least one conduit that mouths into the drop contact area from the direction of the first surface of the body. A liquid volume is applied to the drop contact area through a communicating conduit. Cells and/or molecules can be introduced into this liquid volume.