Perfusion culture system

We developed a perfusion culture system with miniature bioreactors and peristaltic pumps. The bioreactors were designed for perfusion, live-cell imaging studies, easy incorporation of microfabricated scaffolds, and convenience of operation in standard cell culture techniques. By combining with miniature peristaltic pumps—one for each bioreactor to avoid cross-contamination and to maintain desired flow rate in each—we made a culture system that facilitates perfusion culture inside standard incubators. This scalable system could support multiple parallel perfusion experiments. The major components were fabricated by three-dimensional printing using VeroWhite, which we showed to be amenable to ex vivo cell culture. Furthermore, the components of the system could be reused, thus making it economical. We validated the system and illustrated its versatility by culturing primary rat hepatocytes, live imaging the growth of mouse fibroblasts (NIH 3T3) on microfabricated ring- scaffolds inserted into the bioreactor, performing perfusion culture of breast cancer cells (MCF7), and high- magnification imaging of hepatocarcinoma cells (HuH7).

The publication is available here.

This device has been commercialized by BendFlex.