Filter holders and membranes are provided that can be included within a bioreactor bag system. The filter holders and membranes include features that abut the bottom of the filter membrane and prevent or reduce sagging of the porous filter region during use.

Embodiments described herein generally provide for expanding cells in a cell expansion system. The cells may be grown in a bioreactor, and the cells may be activated by an activator (e.g., a soluble activator complex). Nutrient and gas exchange capabilities of a closed, automated cell expansion system may allow cells to be seeded at reduced cell seeding densities, for example. Parameters of the cell growth environment may be manipulated to load the cells into a particular position in the bioreactor for the efficient exchange of nutrients and gases. System parameters may be adjusted to shear any cell colonies that may form during the expansion phase. Metabolic concentrations may be controlled to improve cell growth and viability. Cell residence in the bioreactor may be controlled. In embodiments, the cells may include T cells. In further embodiments, the cells may include T cell subpopulations, including regulatory T cells (Tregs), for example.

The present invention relates to a laboratory device, wherein the laboratory device has an outer housing which defines an interior of the device, wherein the laboratory device is designed to assume an operating state at which a pressure in the interior of the device is lower than an ambient pressure in the environment of the laboratory device. The present invention also relates to the use of the laboratory device in a clean room.

Filter holders and membranes are provided that can be included within a bioreactor bag system. The filter holders and membranes include features that allow incorporation of advanced membrane materials having differing material characteristics than traditional membranes that more closely matched the characteristics of the filter holder.

Zebrafish are a powerful model for investigating cardiac repair due to their unique regenerative abilities, scalability, and compatibility with many genetic tools. However, characterizing the regeneration process in live adult zebrafish hearts has proved challenging because adult fish are opaque and explanted hearts in conventional culture conditions experience rapid declines in morphology and physiology. To overcome these limitations, we fabricated a fluidic device for culturing explanted adult zebrafish hearts with constant media perfusion that is also compatible with live imaging. Unlike hearts cultured in dishes for one week, the morphology and calcium activity of hearts cultured in the device for one week were largely similar to freshly explanted hearts. We also cultured injured hearts in the device and used live imaging techniques to continuously record the revascularization process over several days, demonstrating how our device enables unprecedented visual access to the multi-day process of adult zebrafish heart regeneration.

Method and apparatuses for forming gel droplets including biological tissue (e.g., cells), and in particular, methods and apparatuses for removing oil from the gel droplets comprising dissociated cells (including micro-organospheres) are described herein. Although it is beneficial to use oil in the formation of these gel droplets, and particularly micro-organospheres, oil may inhibit growth and survival of the cells within the gel droplets. The methods and apparatuses described herein may permit the removal of oil and may enhance survival and quality of the resulting gel droplets.

The bioreactor can use a number of different culture growing structures for culturing cells including a lattice structure and a support matrix structure. The culture growing structure whether it be a support matrix using wicking and/or a lattice structure may be coated with a thermal responsive polymer. The material of interest growing on the culture growing structure can be removed by changing the temperature that the thermal responsive polymer on the surface of the culture growing structure is exposed to and thus in some cases release the thermal responsive polymer along with the material of interest from the remainder of the culture growing structure.

Described herein is a human, cardiovascular platform for assessing cardiotoxicity of novel/existing chemotherapeutic agents that takes advantage of microfluidic organ chip systems to examine interaction between hiPSC-derived cardiovascular cells in an integrated system. Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) and human induced pluripotent stem cell derived endothelial cells (hiPSC-ECs) can serve as an in-vitro platform for assessing disease pathology, including infectious disease, evaluate drug efficacy, toxicity, cardiotoxicity and cardioprotection. This includes evaluating VEGFR2/PDGFR-inhibiting tyrosine kinase inhibitors and drug efficacy in a viral infection model, including coronaviruses. They are scalable, functionally-active cell types that mimic the cells comprising the myocardium and systemic vasculature.

The present disclosure provides a cell separation apparatus for a bioreactor, which comprises: a cell separation component, which is arranged in a tank and immersed below the liquid level of the mixture and includes a filter membrane and a liquid guiding groove; and a tangential flow driving component, which includes one or more blades. The cell separation apparatus implements a low shear force and the filter membrane is not blocked easily. The present disclosure also provides a stirring system including a central shaft and a multi-layer paddle component. The multi-layer paddle component includes an upper paddle component, an intermediate paddle component and a bottom paddle component arranged around the central shaft.

Filter holders and membranes are provided that can be included within a bioreactor bag system. The filter holders and membranes include features that allow incorporation of advanced membrane materials having differing material characteristics than traditional membranes that more closely matched the characteristics of the filter holder.