(173b) Microfluidic Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering

The growth of functional tissues in vitro requires to control cellular phenotype, proliferation, and metabolic activity both temporally and spatially. A desirable advance in this effort would be a tool that allows one to impose mechanical and chemical stimuli with high spatial resolution within the material that hosts the developing tissue; this internal control would allow the engineer to direct the progression of the tissue on a scale smaller than the tissue itself. In this talk, we will describe our efforts to embed microfluidic control of mass transfer directly within cell-seeded scaffolds. We will discuss considerations regarding the choices of material and methods of fabrication. We will present a complete characterization of the transient and steady-state distributions of solutes that are achievable within the scaffold via convective mass transfer mediated by the embedded microfluidic structure. Finally, we will present specific examples of the culture of primary chondrocytes and mesenchymal stem cells within microfluidic scaffolds, and progress toward the goal of growing a monolithic tissue that contains a bone-cartilage interface.