Microfluidics for large scale cell harvesting?
I finally found some time to dive into the latest The Good Food Institute Bio-processing Survey report (see link here), and it's a goldmine of information up and down the entire cultured meat tech stack 🌟. One pressing challenge briefly raised is the difficult task of harvesting cells from large-scale bioreactors—a hurdle that becomes more pronounced as biomanufacturing scales up.
Traditionally, centrifugation, whether continuous or batch, has been the go-to solution. But, as we aim for higher volumes, striking a balance between efficiency, speed, and cell integrity becomes a significant challenge 🔄. This is where innovative approaches like microfluidics might come into play.
Just last night, I had the pleasure of chatting with Monika Tomecka, PhD, the CEO and founder of uFraction8, a microfluidics device company developing solutions for the cultured meat sector. uFraction8 uses precisely patterned chips to separate cells from liquid. Although each chip handles just a tiny volume, by leveraging hundreds or even thousands of these chips in parallel, large volumes can be processed both quickly and gently 🌱. This approach is crucial for cultured meat companies looking to transition harvested cells to a second stage of differentiation and maturation, as it minimises stress to the cells and maximises viability 🥩.
As more and more startups begin to scale-up, I'm curious to hear from others: How are you tackling cell harvesting? What challenges have you encountered? And has microfluidics been on your radar? 🤔💬
For those in the microfluidics field working on solutions for large-volume bioreactor cell harvesting, I'd love to learn more about your work. While uFraction8 is already on my radar, I'm eager to discover others in this space 📢.
[I have no connection to uFraction8, I just think the tech is cool and Monika Tomecka, PhD did an awesome job of walking me through the tech and all of the potential use cases. Can highly recommend anyone thinking about cell harvesting to reach out and chat to her].
