This invention relates to a tissue construct comprising a core portion having a recess and composed of fibrous connective tissue, and loose fibrous somatic stem cell-accumulated tissue comprising type III collagen and somatic stem cells which is formed in the recess; a device for producing the same; and a method for collecting somatic stem cells from the tissue construct.

Presented is an airway organ bioreactor apparatus, and methods of use thereof, as well as bioartificial airway organs produced using the methods, and methods of treating subjects using the bioartificial airway organs. The bioreactor comprises: an organ chamber: an ingres line connecting the organ chamber and a reservoir system and comprising an arterial line, a venous line and a tracheal line; an egress line connecting the chamber and the reservoir system, pumps in ingress and egress lines; a controller to control fluid exchange; a chamber pressure sensor connected to the organ chamber.

A flow path cassette includes superimposed first and second flexible sheets, where a plurality of flow paths are disposed therebetween and detection channel portions are disposed at one or more points along one or more of the plurality the flow paths. Each of the detection channel portions includes a first bulging portion and an opposing second bulging portion. A plate member is aligned with the second bulging portion, and a deformation preventative member is aligned with the first bulging portion. The plate member may move with the second bulging portion, while the deformation preventative member prevents deformation of the first bulging portion.

Ultrasonic devices comprise a housing comprising an ultrasonic surface, an ultrasonic transducer, and an ultrasonic horn to provide and focus energy from the ultrasonic transducer to the ultrasonic surface. Methods of removing trapped air bubbles from a cell culture container comprise positioning a cell culture container comprising air bubbles trapped in liquid within microcavity wells of the cell culture container at an ultrasonic surface of an ultrasonic device. Mechanical agitation is generated by the ultrasonic device and applied to the cell culture container to remove the trapped air bubbles from the microcavity wells. Methods of releasing cell aggregates from a cell culture container comprising positioning a cell culture container comprising cell aggregates in microcavity wells at an ultrasonic surface of an ultrasonic device. The cell aggregates are released from the microcavity wells by applying mechanical agitation from the ultrasonic device to a surface of the cell culture container.

The invention relates to a modular processing system for biopharmaceutical and/or chemical processes, comprising: at least one processing unit; at least one adapter plate, which can be directly or indirectly fluidically connected to the processing unit, wherein the adapter plate has at least one adapter channel, through which at least one fluid flow can flow to the processing unit, wherein the adapter plate also has at least one deflection element and/or a pump and/or at least one valve; and an external control device. The adapter plate is designed in such a way that the fluid flow to the processing unit can be at least partially deflected with the at least one deflection element in the adapter channel and/or the fluid flow, preferably its pressure, is controllable with the at least one valve and/or the pump in the adapter channel. A respective at least one sensor is embedded in the processing unit and/or in the adapter plate, in order to detect at least one property of the fluid flow in the processing unit or the adapter plate. The external control device can be coupled to the at least one sensor in such a way that measurement data of at least one sensor can be read out, and the fluid flow in the processing unit and or the adapter plate can be centrally controlled based on the read-out measurement data. The invention also relates to a method for centrally controlling a modular processing system for biopharmaceutical and/or chemical processes.

Micro-Organospheres, including Patient-Derived Micro-Organospheres (PMOSs), apparatuses and methods of making them, and apparatuses and methods of using them. Also described herein are methods and systems for screening a patient using these Patient-Derived Micro-Organospheres, including personalized therapies.

Closed disposable seeding systems with improved seeding chambers permitting uniform seeding of a scaffold or graft with patient's cells are provided. The seeding chambers with a variable width along the length of the chamber, or a minimal gap between the scaffold and chamber wall, provide an improvement of the prior seeding chambers of closed disposable seeding systems by providing faster and more efficient and uniform seeding of the grafts and scaffolds. Also described are scaffolds with biomechanical and structural properties permitting spontaneous reversal of stenosis and neotissue formation as the graft degrades yielding a scaffold-free neovessel.

Disclosed are a biomimic system simulating lung tissue, a method for manufacturing same, and a microfluidic control method using same, wherein the biomimic system comprises lung epithelial cells and lung fibroblasts, which are isolated from human lungs, and commercially available vascular endothelial cells, and wherein a microfluid flows through the biomimic system. Each chamber inside the corresponding system can allow a fluid, which contains gas and a medium, to flow therethrough and simulate respiration-like movement, wherein all of the three types of cells can survive inside the system even when one week or more have elapsed after through-flow of the fluid. In addition, the pH and pO.sub.2 in the chamber can be monitored by using a pH sensor and a gas partial pressure sensor inside the system, and thus the three types of cells inside the system can be exposed to external environments, drugs, and the like under the same conditions as in the lungs in vivo. Therefore, a wide range of studies including modeling of lung diseases by harmful substances and testing of therapeutic drug efficacy can be conducted, and further, the utilization to in vitro disease modeling, customized medicine prescriptions, and the like can also be made.

Structures and methods for tissue engineering include a multicellular body including a plurality of living cells. A plurality of multicellular bodies can be arranged in a pattern and allowed to fuse to form an engineered tissue. The arrangement can include filler bodies including a biocompatible material that resists migration and ingrowth of cells from the multicellular bodies and that is resistant to adherence of cells to it. Three-dimensional constructs can be assembled by printing or otherwise stacking the multicellular bodies and filler bodies such that there is direct contact between adjoining multicellular bodies, suitably along a contact area that has a substantial length. The direct contact between the multicellular bodies promotes efficient and reliable fusion. The increased contact area between adjoining multicellular bodies also promotes efficient and reliable fusion. Methods of producing multicellular bodies having characteristics that facilitate assembly of the three-dimensional constructs are also provided.

This invention is a system for the production of biomass from photosynthesizing microorganisms that includes a photobioreactor comprising a transparent panel made from two transparent sheets with a separation between them, with top and bottom openings and with transparent, parallel subdivisions that form a panel of vertically arranged, transparent cells, where each transparent cell has a top opening and a bottom opening; a lower recirculation chamber in fluid contact with the bottom openings of the transparent panel; an upper recirculation chamber in fluid contact with the top openings of the transparent panel; a gas distribution tube externally arranged along the edge of said transparent panel; where said gas distribution tube comprises gas injectors arranged in fluid contact with the interior of a plurality of transparent cells; and a supporting structure that supports the transparent panel, the lower recirculation chamber, the upper recirculation chamber and the air distribution tube.