Multifunctional Scaffold Agitation Platform

描述(由申请人提供)：这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种商业上可行的设备，使用微尺度声流(低频声能)将混合传递到用于组织工程和其他应用的三维(3D)支架的内部。低频声能的优势是能够在支架内和支架周围产生微尺度混合，从而增强支架内液体、分子和氧气的运动，而不需要泵或每个支架昂贵而不方便的灌流设备。初步数据显示，细胞可以在声能场的存在下成功生长。营养供应问题和均匀种植致密组织工程支架的困难是需要克服的问题，以便在复杂的3D环境中成功地生产高质量、可重复的细胞培养，而复杂的3D环境是现代组织工程的支柱。对这些问题的许多可能的解决方案已经被研究过，包括使用旋转烧瓶、离心机、真空固定器或用于细胞播种的灌流。本文提出的方法的愿景是开发一个单一的搅拌平台，在该平台上可以将多个支架安装在井板固定器中，以提供与灌注法类似的好处，但不需要灌注环方法固有的大量时间和资金投入。当在低强度下使用时，建议的装置应该能够提供类似于灌注法的益处，但包装要简单得多。当在没有细胞的情况下以更高的强度使用时，更多的应用和好处可以以更快速的方法的形式提供，用于支架的水化、功能化和酶降解。这项研究计划的目标是建立一个健壮的工作原型装置，并评估其作为增强支架细胞培养的非常简单的解决方案的实用性。该设备在组织工程领域的商业应用将非常广泛，扩展到已被证明通过更繁琐的基于血流的灌流系统增强的所有组织，以及水合、功能化和消化支架等基本操作。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a commercially-viable device that uses micro-scale acoustic streaming (low frequency sound energy) to deliver mixing to the interior of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds used for tissue engineering and other applications. The enabling advantage of low frequency sound energy is the ability to generate micro-scale mixing in and around scaffolds that can enhance the movement of liquid, molecules, and oxygen within scaffolds without the need for pumps or a costly and inconvenient perfusion apparatus for each scaffold. Preliminary data shows that cells can successfully grow in the presence of the acoustic energy field. Nutrient supply issues and difficulties in homogenously seeding dense tissue engineering scaffolds are issues that need to be overcome in order to successfully produce high quality, repeatable cell cultures in the complex 3D environments that are the mainstay of modern tissue engineering. Many possible solutions to these problems have been examined, including the use of spinner flask, centrifugal, vacuum fixtures, or perfusion for cell seeding. The vision for the approach proposed here is to develop a single agitation platform on which multiple scaffolds can be mounted in well-plate fixtures to deliver similar benefits as those derived from the perfusion approach but without the significant time and capital investment inherent in the perfusion loop approach. When used at low intensities, the proposed device should be able to deliver benefits similar to a perfusion approach, but in a much simpler package. When used at higher intensities in the absence of cells, additional applications and benefits can be delivered in the form of much more rapid methods for the hydration, functionalization, and enzymatic degradation of scaffolds. The goal of this research proposal is to build a robust working prototype device and to evaluate its utility as a very simple solution for the enhancement of scaffold-based cell cultures. The commercial applications of the device would be much broad within the field of tissue engineering, extending to the full range of tissues that have shown to be enhanced by more cumbersome perfusion flow-based systems, as well as to basic operations such as hydrating, functionalizing, and digesting scaffolds.