Integration of Membranes in 3-D Biodegradable and Biocompatible Microfluidic Bioreactors

DIANA-ELENA MOGOSANU; LUCILA NAVARRO; VERPLANCKE RIK; VANFLETEREN JAN; PETER DUBRUEL

Barcelona

Conferencia; 2nd International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Systems; 2015

In the last two decades, a multidisciplinary approach on the delivery of cells to the body and the development of neo-tissue has advanced. On the one hand, the science of polymers focuses on the development of biocompatible materials for cell culturing and tissue engineering applications, while on the other hand (micro-)engineering has an important part in providing a specific topography that directs the cells and provides a more similar architecture to that of tissues. Soft and flexible elastomers have gained more and more interest, especially due to their biodegradability and tunable mechanical properties that can mimic the natural tissue. The class of aliphatic polyester elastomers, amongst which poly (glycerol sebacate) is a very representative material, has grown considerably. Herein, we report the design of novel polyester elastomers that are synthesized from monomers found within the human metabolism. The thermoset properties of these polymers as well as their optical transparency make them ideal materials for microsystems technology. Therefore, microfluidic devices were developed out of these polymers in order to facilitate the design of a tissue-engineered organ. A porous membrane was inserted in the microfluidic device to enable co-culture and distribution of nutrients to the cells. Furthermore, the reported polymers and microfluidic structure can serve a multitude of applications, from tissue engineering to point-of-care diagnostics or compound screening.