Automated Microfluidics: Advancing Cell Culturing through Non-Sacrificial Analysis and Heterogeneous Microenvironments

SUMMARY This STTR project aims to advance the commercialization of an innovative automated cell culturing system, addressing drawbacks of conventional methods and comparing our technology's advantages with existing competing products. The system integrates microscopic nozzles to enable precise fluid and cell manipulations, overcoming challenges of maintaining heterogeneous microenvironments and sacrificial analysis. To that end, we will demonstrate advanced capabilities that are not currently possible using conventional culturing technologies: namely, 1) achieving a complex tissue pattern by inducing different cell lineages from stem cells via localized drug delivery; and 2) a non-disruptive microscopy-free way to analyze different locations in the culture in real time via micro-probing. By providing researchers with these novel tools, this project holds the potential for transforming cell culturing, supporting a startup, and reducing reliance on animal testing, aligning with ethical research practices.