Building on the Success of Project 105617; New Features, Components and Material Construction Towards Commercialising Novel Cell Concentration Devices

该项目是与加拿大Smallfoood公司合作开发和测试uFraction 8‘S堆叠式微流控生物分离系统的材料和结构的变化，用于生产新的蛋白质来源(来自微生物培养)，由InnovateUK项目105617支持。超细8‘S技术提高了食品生产过程的生产率。超细8’S核心微流控组件的设计在前一个项目的过程中发生了巨大变化，并导致了新设计规模制造的潜在复杂情况。虽然概念验证(PoC)为SmallFood Inc.和更广泛的市场展示了预期的性能优势，但它需要进一步的创新和开发，以找到能够经济地生产新开发设计的可扩展制造解决方案。该项目将探索使用聚合物材料来取代PoC中使用的不锈钢。通过更改材料，需要重新考虑堆叠微流控模块的图案化、建造、对准和密封的几个工程方面。使用快速原型和专业分包商来探索两种已确定的图案化方法和三种类型的键合，验证测试将以与原始PoC测试和验证相同的方式进行。105617期间建造的测试平台将被重复使用。最初的性能测试将在内部使用具有代表性的精密微珠和分析设备(分光光度法和血细胞计数法)进行。随后，将通过我们的分包商培养一批完整的培养物，并进行干重和流式细胞术分析。通过建立一种经济地制造堆叠式微流控生物分离系统的新工艺，uFraction 8将提高食品加工技术的生产率。PoC展示的高效生物分离性能将大规模部署到市场中，最大限度地发挥通过先前支持的工作开发的创新的影响。

This project is to develop and test a change to the material and construction of uFraction8's stacked microfluidic bioseparation system prototyped in partnership with Smallfoood Inc, Canada, for the production of novel protein sources (from microbial culture) supported by InnovateUK project 105617\. uFraction8's technology enhance the productivity of food production processes.The design of uFraction8's core microfluidic components changed dramatically over the course of the previous project and has led to potential complications with manufacture at scale of the new designs. Though the proof of concept (PoC) demonstrated the desired performance benefits to Smallfood Inc. and the broader market, it requires further innovation and development to find a scalable manufacturing solution to be able to economically produce the newly developed design.This project will explore the use of polymer materials to replace the stainless steel used in the PoC. By changing the material, several engineering aspects need to be reconsidered around patterning, construction, alignment and sealing of the stacked microfluidic modules.Using rapid prototyping and specialist subcontractors to explore the two identified approaches to patterning and three types of bonding, validation testing will be carried out in the same manner as the original PoC was tested and validated. The test platform built during 105617 will be re-used. Initial performance testing will be characterised in-house using representative precision microbeads and analytical equipment (spectrophotometry and haemocytometry). Subsequently, a full-scale batch of culture will be grown through our subcontractor and analysed by dry weight and flow cytometry.By establishing a new process for the economical manufacture of stacked microfluidic bioseparation systems, uFraction8 will enhance productivity for food processing technologies. The efficient bioseparation performance demonstrated by the PoC will be deployed into the market at scale, maximising the impact of the innovation developed through the previously supported work.