Brn3b-TdTomato Retinal Organoids (Fluorescent Micrograph)

Retinal degenerative diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa, Leber congenital amaurosis, and age-related macular degeneration, are leading causes of genetic blindness worldwide yet largely untreatable partly due to insufficient understanding of the diseases’ mechanisms. To potentially address this lack of comprehension, scientists have been studying retinal tissues cultured from human pluripotent stem cells. Therefore, developing a dependable and repeatable culturing method is important.

Several such protocols have been created over the years, such as one from Wahlin et al. (2015) involving raising cells in different feeding media and levels of oxygen within particular time intervals and taking about 150 days to form extensive outer segment-like structures. Hence, simple tasks like providing nutrients and removing waste for the cells or organoids can become quite tedious if one is required to pipette media every other day into a large number of multiple-well plates. Furthermore, COVID-19 safety precautions have limited availability of lab technicians thus augmenting the problem of culturing organoids on a large scale.

The SpinΩ bioreactor is made out of a 3D printed chassis with electronic components. The 3D printed material is ULTEM, a heat resistant plastic with no known biological side effects to allow for conventional sterilizations (i.e. autoclaving). Likewise, a single electric motor, connected by gears, helps the 12 propellers to spin in synchrony. SpinΩ has been noted to successfully grow organoids under different conditions and protocols efficiently and cost-effectively. One such example that used this bioreactor was to model a Zika virus infected brain organoid to examine the neurodegenerative consequence of the virus.

The Spin Infinite is the second generation of the miniaturized spinning bioreactor, created by Romero-Morales et al.1 The Spin Infinite improves upon the SpinΩ by improving 1) the choice of motor, 2) screws and bolts, and 3) the addition of an upper acrylic lid for stability.

Developed by Wong et al. (2018) is an automated system that can deliver high throughput growth of yeast and bacteria. The design consists of several parts that contribute to the goal of automating the process of cell culture. First, each cell culture is accommodated in 40 mL autoclavable borosilicate glass vials that is wrapped around in a smart sleeve such that optimal optical density, temperature, and spin rate are achieved with LED+diode pair, PID heat controller, and computer fans and magnets, respectively. Feeding media from bigger containers are delivered through the fluidic system that utilizes peristaltic pumps and a millifluidic device with integrated pneumatic valves to enable fully-controlled and customizable liquid routing and transporting. Finally, all of these features can be tweaked via actuators and electronic devices via a motherboard to achieve the optimal conditions for growing yeast and bacteria. Note that all data are synchronized and stored on a computer for easy monitoring. This design, while being novel and useful, still maintains a low cost; such design can open the door to many more affordable and customizable cell or organoid growing systems.