Fig. 4: Cell loading and encapsulation pouch sealing.

A A schematic diagram illustrating stepwise procedure for cell loading and pouch sealing in the BEAM system. B Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of longitudinal and cross-sections of an encapsulation pouch loaded with INS-1 cell aggregates at 60,000 IEQ/mL. The experiment was repeated independently more than three times with similar results. C Bright-field and fluorescence images of the hydrogel layer removed from the encapsulation pouch, containing INS-1 cell aggregates at 60,000 IEQ/mL. Scale bar: 2 mm. D A representative digital image of an oxygen transportation tubing infused with a high flow rate of oxygen. E Representative images depicting the connection between the oxygen transportation tubing and the cell encapsulation pouch. The fibrous membrane was removed for visualization purpose. F The pull-off force measured during the tensile test, indicating the force at which the barb connector is removed from the cell encapsulation pouch (n = 5). Measurements were conducted on 5 devices fabricated across 5 independent production batches. The data are presented as a min to max box-and-whisker plot. The center line represents the median, the bounds of the box indicate the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the whiskers extend to the minimum and maximum values.