Fig. 1: Automated microfluidic 3D cellular and organoid culture platform for dynamical drug perturbations.
From: Automated microfluidic platform for dynamic and combinatorial drug screening of tumor organoids
a A programmable membrane-valve-based microfluidic chip (multiplexer control device) provides automated stimulation profiles to various chambers of a separate 3D culture platform (b) to produce many parallel and dynamical culture experiments. b, c The 3D culture chamber platform contains 200 individual chambers that are compatible with temperature-sensitive gels (i.e., Matrigel), and an overlaying channel layer enables 20 independent fluidic conditions (scale bar 100 μm). The channel layer is reversibly clamped on top of the chamber layer to provide media and other chemical stimulation without leakage. c A cross-section of the two-layer multichambered PDMS-based 3D culture chamber device. d 30 chemical inputs and 30 outlets of the multiplexer control device (a) are preprogrammed to provide combinatorial and time-varying stimulations to the 3D culture chamber device (b). e, f Organoids or 3D cellular structures are continuously observed through time-lapse imaging for quantification; fluidic culture conditions can be changed on demand. The 3D culture chamber device can also be disassembled for cell harvesting and further cellular assays.
