Design and Manufacturing of a Uniform, Massively Parallel Fluid Distributor for Automated Cell Culture Bioreactor

Abstract

In this study, we present a design methodology that enables the automation of cell culture using a fluidic bioreactor module in a uniform, massively parallel fashion. To demonstrate our proof-of-concept validation, we designed the channel lengths that can uniformly distribute the fluid from one inlet to two to the power of n outlets. In our experiments, the module was composed of four layers which can hold eight petri dishes on each layer. The channel outlets were connected to the petri dishes, respectively. Cells and media were distributed into each petri dish by compensating the channel lengths with different potential energy of each layer in a controlled manner. The results show that the module was well-designed for the parallel supply of medium in automatic cell culture. Overall, the process can be automated by controlling the on/off events temporally, such as injecting a new cell media and removing the waste.