The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

Brian Cain

Joseph L Charest

Brett C Isenberg

Hesham Azizgolshani

Jeffrey T Borenstein

Jonathan Robert Coppeta

Mark Joseph Mescher

Daniel Doty

Nathan Francis Moore

Timothy Petrie

Vienna Mott

Timothy Haggerty

Alla Gimbel

A microfluidic device for modeling a tumor-immune microenvironment can include a multiwell plate defining a plurality of microenvironment units fluidically coupled with a plurality of wells. Each microenvironment unit of the plurality of microenvironment units can include one or more compartments. Each microenvironment unit can include a trapping feature positioned within the one or more compartments. The trapping feature can be defined by a portion of at least one of a sidewall or a floor of the one or more compartments. The trapping feature can restrict movement of a tissue sample introduced into the one or more compartments and to allow fluid to flow past the tissue sample. The microfluidic device can include a plurality of micropumps each coupled with a respective well and configured to control movement of a respective fluid sample through each respective well.

Multiwell dynamic model for a tumor-immune microenvironment

This disclosure provides systems and methods for seeding cell cultures in a microfluidic device. The systems and methods of this disclosure can enable flow of a cell solution from one side of a scaffold, such as a porous substrate or membrane, to the other side of the scaffold. Flow of the liquid can pass through the scaffold while the cells themselves do not, resulting in the cells driven to the surface of the scaffold for consequent attachment. A microfluidic device can include a microfluidic feature structured to create a seal between a cell seeding tool and an inlet to a microchannel of the microfluidic device. This can enable a pressure-driven flow to push fluid down the channel and through pores of the membrane. In contrast, traditional gravity fed seeding of cells may not create enough pressure to drive fluid through the pores of the scaffold.

Systems and methods for seeding cell cultures in a microfluidic device

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Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Brian Cain