A multimodal digital microfluidic testing platform for antibody-producing cell lines.

In recent years, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have become a powerful tool in the treatment of human diseases. Currently, over 100 mAbs have received approval for therapeutic use in the US, with wide-ranging applications from cancer to infectious diseases. The predominant method of producing antibodies for therapeutics involves expression in mammalian cell lines.

Emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds from consumer spray products based on product type, spray method, and distance.

Consumer spray products (CSPs) are widely used in daily life, yet it is challenging to find products that fully disclose all components posing health risks. Existing studies primarily focus on product components or VOC quantities emitted during use. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the VOC concentrations emitted by CSPs at varying distances.

Cell-based shear stress sensor for bioprocessing.

Shear stress during bioreactor cultivation has significant impact on cell health, growth, and fate. Mammalian cells, such as T cells and stem cells, in next-generation cell therapies are especially more sensitive to shear stress present in their culture environment than bacteria. Therefore, a base knowledge about the shear stress imposed by the bioprocesses is needed to optimize the process parameters and enhance cell growth and yield.

Non-invasive real-time monitoring of cell concentration and viability using Doppler ultrasound.

Bioprocess optimization towards higher productivity and better quality control relies on real-time process monitoring tools to measure process and culture parameters. Cell concentration and viability are among the most important parameters to be monitored during bioreactor operations that are typically determined using optical methods on an extracted sample. In this paper, we have developed an online non-invasive sensor to measure cell concentration and viability based on Doppler ultrasound.

Engineering a deformation-free plastic spiral inertial microfluidic system for CHO cell clarification in biomanufacturing.

Inertial microfluidics has enabled many impactful high throughput applications. However, devices fabricated in soft elastomer (, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)) suffer reliability issues due to significant deformation generated by the high pressure and flow rates in inertial microfluidics. In this paper, we demonstrated deformation-free and mass-producible plastic spiral inertial microfluidic devices for high-throughput cell separation applications.

Separation of Ultra-High-Density Cell Suspension via Elasto-Inertial Microfluidics.

Separation of high-density suspension particles at high throughput is crucial for many chemical, biomedical, and environmental applications. In this study, elasto-inertial microfluidics is used to manipulate ultra-high-density cells to achieve stable equilibrium positions in microchannels, aided by the inherent viscoelasticity of high-density cell suspension. It is demonstrated that ultra-high-density Chinese hamster ovary cell suspension (>26 packed cell volume% (PCV%), >95 million cells mL ) can be focused at distinct lateral equilibrium positions under high-flow-rate conditions (up to 10 mL min ).

Miniature auto-perfusion bioreactor system with spiral microfluidic cell retention device.

Medium perfusion is critical in maintaining high cell concentration in cultures. The conventional membrane filtration method for medium exchange has been challenged by the fouling and clogging of the membrane filters in long-term cultures. In this study, we present a miniature auto-perfusion system that can be operated inside a common-size laboratory incubator.

Investigating the influence of physiologically relevant hydrostatic pressure on CHO cell batch culture.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been the most commonly used mammalian host for large-scale commercial production of therapeutic proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies. Enhancement of productivity of these CHO cells is one of the top priorities in the biopharmaceutical industry to reduce manufacturing cost. Although there are many different methods (e.

Continuous Online Protein Quality Monitoring during Perfusion Culture Production Using an Integrated Micro/Nanofluidic System.

We demonstrate a new micro/nanofluidic system for continuous and automatic monitoring of protein product size and quantity directly from the culture supernatant during a high-cell-concentration CHO cell perfusion culture. A microfluidic device enables clog-free cell retention for a bench-scale (350 mL) perfusion bioreactor that continuously produces the culture supernatant containing monoclonal antibodies (IgG). A nanofluidic device directly monitors the protein size and quantity in the culture supernatant.

Continuous removal of small nonviable suspended mammalian cells and debris from bioreactors using inertial microfluidics.

Removing nonviable cells from a cell suspension is crucial in biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Label-free microfluidic cell separation devices based on dielectrophoresis, acoustophoresis, and deterministic lateral displacement are used to remove nonviable cells. However, their volumetric throughputs and test cell concentrations are generally too low to be useful in typical bioreactors in biomanufacturing.

Label-free Neutrophil Enrichment from Patient-derived Airway Secretion Using Closed-loop Inertial Microfluidics.

Airway secretions contain a large number of immune-related cells, e.g., neutrophils, macrophages, and lymphocytes, which can be used as a major resource to evaluate a variety of pulmonary diseases, both for research and clinical purposes.

High-throughput sorting of eggs for synchronization of C. elegans in a microfluidic spiral chip.

In this study, we report the use of a high-throughput microfluidic spiral chip to screen out eggs from a mixed age nematode population, which can subsequently be cultured to a desired developmental stage. For the sorting of a mixture containing three different developmental stages, eggs, L1 and L4, we utilized a microfluidic spiral chip with a trapezoidal channel to obtain a sorting efficiency of above 97% and a sample purity (SP) of above 80% for eggs at different flow rates up to 10 mL min. The result demonstrated a cost-effective, simple, and highly efficient method for synchronizing C.

Microfluidic Cell Retention Device for Perfusion of Mammalian Suspension Culture.

Continuous production of biologics, a growing trend in the biopharmaceutical industry, requires a reliable and efficient cell retention device that also maintains cell viability. Current filtration methods, such as tangential flow filtration using hollow-fiber membranes, suffer from membrane fouling, leading to significant reliability and productivity issues such as low cell viability, product retention, and an increased contamination risk associated with filter replacement. We introduce a novel cell retention device based on inertial sorting for perfusion culture of suspended mammalian cells.

Nanofluidic device for continuous multiparameter quality assurance of biologics.

Process analytical technology (PAT) is critical for the manufacture of high-quality biologics as it enables continuous, real-time and on-line/at-line monitoring during biomanufacturing processes. The conventional analytical tools currently used have many restrictions to realizing the PAT of current and future biomanufacturing. Here we describe a nanofluidic device for the continuous monitoring of biologics' purity and bioactivity with high sensitivity, resolution and speed.

Patient-Derived Airway Secretion Dissociation Technique To Isolate and Concentrate Immune Cells Using Closed-Loop Inertial Microfluidics.

Assessment of airway secretion cells, both for research and clinical purposes, is a highly desired goal in patients with acute and chronic pulmonary diseases. However, lack of proper cell isolation and enrichment techniques hinder downstream evaluation and characterization of cells found in airway secretions. Here, we demonstrate a novel enrichment method to capture immune-related cells from clinical airway secretions using closed-loop separation of spiral inertial microfluidics (C-sep).

Correction: Liquid-capped encoded microcapsules for multiplex assays.

Correction for 'Liquid-capped encoded microcapsules for multiplex assays' by Younghoon Song et al., Lab Chip, 2017, DOI: .

Liquid-capped encoded microcapsules for multiplex assays.

Although droplet microfludics is a promising technology for handling a number of liquids of a single type of analyte, it has limitations in handling thousands of different types of analytes for multiplex assay. Here, we present a novel "liquid-capped encoded microcapsule", which is applicable to various liquid format assays. Various liquid drops can be graphically encoded and arrayed without repeated dispensing processes, evaporation, and the risk of cross-contamination.

A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sponge for the selective absorption of oil from water.

We present a sugar-templated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sponge for the selective absorption of oil from water. The process for fabricating the PDMS sponge does not require any intricate synthesis processes or equipment and it is not environmentally hazardous, thus promoting potential in environmental applications. The proposed PDMS sponge can be elastically deformed into any shape, and it can be compressed repeatedly in air or liquids without collapsing.