Micro and milli-chamber bioreactors for human induced pluripotent stem cell culture: Model and experimental validation

One of the main interests in developing microfluidic platforms is the lab-on-a-chip (LOC) applications, including the use of microdevices for the culture of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells for different applications. In this context, the trapping and control of Micro/nano-scale bubbles have been considered as it becomes a field of growing concern addressing many challenges in LOC applications. In the present work, we present a novel microfluidic bioreactor based on the micropillar design that reduces stresses caused by bubbles on the cell growth in the microchip. The combination of one chamber with 3-pillars and 10-pillars design with the channel heights of 270 µm and 2 mm were evaluated. Computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFD) were conducted to investigate the flow dynamics in the new designs. Numerical values of velocity were compared with those obtained by experimental flow tests to evaluate the performance of the proposed microdevice. Finally, the functionality of the new milli-bioreactor design was validated by culturing human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) for 5 days. Cell growth, viability and sustain pluripotency were successfully proved using a new platform architecture. This multidisciplinary research provides new insights into the chemical engineering and operability of micro and milli-bioreactors with prospects for future industrial applications.