Advanced in-vitro management of three-dimensional cell cultures and explanted tissue

The field of red biotechnology includes in vitro applications of cell cultures as well as the use of tissue models that are becoming increasingly important in medicine and pharmaceutical research. In addition, increasing efforts are being made to replace animal experiments with adequate and relevant in vitro models. However, in order to obtain reliable results from these models, it is essential to adjust the functionality of cell-based products and tissue models as closely as possible to the physiology of the living organism. In order to create physiological conditions, miniprofusion bioreactor systems are being developed at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). These are mainly used for the three-dimensional cultivation of stem cells in dynamic bioreactors in regenerative medicine, whereby parameters are controlled from the cell supernatant which have a great influence on the cell cultures (fluidic shear stress, pressure, O2, CO2, pH). Continuous sampling during growth is currently not possible because of the influence on the growth conditions. Therefore, endpoint determinations can only be made at the time for the examination of the 3D tissue, although continuous sampling during the cultivation would be a great advantage. Such sampling for e.g. Metabolism, differentiation, and the like. , is made possible by a further development of the open microperfusion (OFM) developed at JOANNEUM RESEARCH. This non-invasive sampling method can be used to continuously determine the growth and functional differentiation of the tissue. The development and integration of a new OFM variant for bioreactor applications allows a specific, time-resolved online success control of the optimized cultivation processes and ensures that the development results can be transferred to other applications (tissue engineering, in vitro testing systems, cell therapy development, biomaterial testing - release kinetics "). In a second application, the use of OFM in the ex vivo model is improved to marketability. The optimal environmental conditions are essential for carrying out the experiments under the most physiological conditions possible. This is especially important for the surgically explanted tissue which is used for biotechnological research in medical diagnostics and regenerative medicine. Therefore, another focus of this project will be on the improved incubation possibilities for different explanted tissues.