The device is capable of growing cells for a variety of applications including fermentation, animal cell culture, tissue engineering, and waste water treatment. Previously, Yang and other chemical engineers at Ohio State grew human tumor cells in the bioreactor to produce large quantities of a protein for cancer research. Kniss and his research group used the bioreactor to grow healthy human placental cells with the eventual goal of testing drugs that a woman can take during pregnancy without harming her fetus. A forest of microscopic polyester fibers anchor living cells in the bioreactor. This allows cells to grow and reproduce as they do in the body, clinging to the fibers as they would to strands of human proteins.
Liquid nutrients course steadily through the bioreactor, mimicking blood flow.
In this latest work, the researchers found that enlarging or shrinking the gaps between the fibers in the bioreactor changes how the cells grow and develop. To reach that finding, however, the researchers had to invent a way to fix the gaps at a particular size. If they simply compressed the fibrous bed, it would bounce back like a soft sponge. So they tried heating and compressing the polyester at the same time, effectively ironing it into shape. Li explained that the polyester acts like a solid at room temperature, and a liquid at high temperature.