Versatile, Fully Automated, Microfluidic Cell Culture System

There is increasing demand for automated and quantitative cell culture technology, driven both by the intense
activity in stem cell biology and by the emergence of
systems biology. We built a fully automated cell culture
screening system based on a microfluidic chip that creates
arbitrary culture media formulations in 96 independent
culture chambers and maintains cell viability for weeks.
Individual culture conditions are customized in terms of
cell seeding density, composition of culture medium, and
feeding schedule, and each chamber is imaged with time-lapse microscopy. Using this device, we perform the first
quantitative measurements of the influence of transient
stimulation schedules on the proliferation, osteogenic
differentiation, and motility of human primary mesenchymal stem cells.

干细胞生物学领域的蓬勃发展与系统生物学的兴起，推动了自动化、定量细胞培养技术的日益增长的需求。本研究构建了一套基于微流控芯片（microfluidic chip）的全自动细胞培养筛选系统，该系统可在96个独立培养舱中配制任意成分的培养基，并可维持细胞活性长达数周。该系统支持针对细胞接种密度、培养基组分及换液周期对单个培养条件进行自定义配置，且每个培养舱均可通过延时显微镜（time-lapse microscopy）开展成像观测。依托该装置，本研究首次实现了对瞬时刺激方案对人原代间充质干细胞增殖、成骨分化及迁移能力影响的定量测量。