Bioreactors

Bioreactors play a pivotal role in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. They offer scientific insights into what levels of mechanical loading/strain/shear can support cell proliferation, growth, and differentiation, and also provide a way to culture and produce mature grafts prior to implantation. TEST Lab has developed a bench-top Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) bioreactor to study the positive influence of oxygen rich environment and pressure, and a tissue chip to model synovial joints in vitro for studying interfacial tissue regeneration and osteoarthritic drug screening. Current projects include a bioreactor culture of stem/chondrogenic spheroids under mechanical loading to retain chondrogenic phenotype, and a novel bioreactor design to culture and establish tissue-tissue interfaces such as bone-cartilage/osteochondral tissue. Our goal is to study and apply the physical forces that are necessary to culture and mature tissue-engineered grafts prior to final implantation.