Mechatronics design principles for biotechnology product development

Conceptual Design of Micro-Bioreactors and Organ-on-Chips for Studies of Cell Cultures

Engineering design of microbioreactors (MBRs) and organ-on-chip (OoC) devices can take advantage of established design science theory, in which systematic evaluation of functional concepts and user requirements are analyzed. This is commonly referred to as a conceptual design. This review article compares how common conceptual design principles are applicable to MBR and OoC devices. The complexity of this design, which is exemplified by MBRs for scaled-down cell cultures in bioprocess development and drug testing in OoCs for heart and eye, is discussed and compared with previous design solutions of MBRs and OoCs, from the perspective of how similarities in understanding design from functionality and user purpose perspectives can more efficiently be exploited. The review can serve as a guideline and help the future design of MBR and OoC devices for cell culture studies.

Developing organ-on-a-chip concepts using bio-mechatronic design methodology

Mechatronic design is an engineering methodology for conceiving, configuring and optimising the design of a technical device or product to the needs and requirements of the final user. In this article, we show how the basic principles of this methodology can be exploited for in vitro cell cultures-often referred to as organ-on-a-chip devices. Due to the key role of the biological cells, we have introduced the term bio-mechatronic design, to highlight the complexity of designing a system that should integrate biology, mechanics and electronics in the same device structure. The strength of the mechatronic design is to match the needs of the potential users to a systematic evaluation of overall functional design alternative. It may be especially attractive for organs-on-chips where biological constituents such as cells and tissues in 3D settings and in a fluidic environment should be compared, screened and selected. Through this approach, design solutions ranked to customer needs are generated according to specified criteria, thereby defining the key constraints of the fabrication. As an example, the bio-mechatronic methodology is applied to a liver-on-a-chip based on information extrapolated from previous theoretical and experimental knowledge. It is concluded that the methodology can generate new fabrication solutions for devices, as well as efficient guidelines for refining the design and fabrication of many of today's organ-on-a-chip devices.