Cellular biological validation of a perfusion bioreactor for skeletal tissue engineering.

One of the most promising approaches in Tissue Engineering is the culturing of cells in combination with biomaterials and signalling molecules in a 3D environment in order to obtain functional 3D tissue (TE-construct). This 3D TE-construct can be used for e.g. implantation and functional repair of a tissue or as an advanced screening tool for e.g. high throughput drug screening. The growth of such a 3D TE-construct is performed in a bioreactor which aims at controlling all parameters affecting growth of this construct. Nowadays the bioreactor technology for 3D TE-constructs is applied in on lab-scale. Upscaling this technology for preclinical, clinical or industrial applications involves the tuning of all handlings, materials and safety precautions to the corresponding legislation. Therefore, the European EMEA directives for Human cell based medicinal products have to be implemented to allow a commercial or clinical application.

Keywords:Perfusion bioreactor, Tissue engineering

Disciplines:Ceramic and glass materials, Materials science and engineering, Semiconductor materials, Other materials engineering