Researchers in Australia have developed a 3D printed system for harvesting stem cells from bioreactors, a breakthrough that could lead to large-scale production of stem cells for treating disease and injury at lower cost.
Current technology to harvest stem cells is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. The new method developed at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) leverages microfluidics to manipulate cells and particles and advances in 3D printing.
“Our cutting-edge technology, which uses 3D printing and microfluidics to integrate a number of production steps into one device, can help make stem cell therapies more widely available to patients at a lower cost,” says Professor Majid Warkiani a biomedical engineer at UTS. “While this world-first system is currently at the prototype stage, we are working closely with biotechnology companies to commercialize the technology. Importantly, it is a closed system with no human intervention, which is necessary for current good manufacturing practices,” he said.
The new system was developed to process mesenchymal stem cells, a type of adult stem cell that can divide and differentiate into multiple tissue cells including bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, and connective tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells are initially extracted from human bone marrow, fat tissue or blood. They are then transferred to a bioreactor in the lab and combined with microcarriers to allow the cells to proliferate.
The UTS system combines four micromixers, one spiral microfluidic separator and one microfluidic concentrator to detach and separate the mesenchymal stem cells from microcarriers and concentrate them for downstream processing.
Warkiani said other bioprocessing industrial challenges can also be addressed using the same technology and workflow, helping to reduce costs and increase the quality of a range of life-saving products including stem cells and CAR-T cells.
The findings were reported recently in the journal Bioresources and Bioprocessing.