A Multimodal Stimulation Cell Culture Bioreactor for Tissue Engineering: A Numerical Modelling Approach

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Bioreactor Design

Background:

• Digital twins are crucial for reducing in vitro and in vivo testing in tissue engineering (TE).
• Conventional manufacturing limits the complexity of bioreactor designs for advanced TE applications.
• Optimizing bioreactor platforms requires integrating physical design with digital simulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel multimodal bioreactor for tissue engineering applications.
• To enable dual electrical and mechanical stimulation of cell cultures within a scaffold.
• To reduce the need for extensive in vitro and in vivo testing through a digital twin approach.

Main Methods:

• Designing a bioreactor amenable to additive manufacturing for complex geometries.
• Assessing material cytotoxicity for bioreactor fabrication.
• Applying numerical modeling to optimize stimulation parameters for bone TE using Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol-modified (PETG).

Main Results:

• A novel, additively manufactured multimodal bioreactor capable of dual stimulation was developed.
• Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol-modified (PETG) was identified as a suitable material due to low cytotoxicity.
• Numerical simulations provided optimal stimulation parameters for bone tissue engineering.

Conclusions:

• The developed bioreactor and digital twin approach enhance reproducibility and platform optimization in TE.
• Additive manufacturing enables innovative bioreactor designs for advanced TE applications.
• This integrated physical-digital strategy holds significant potential for accelerating TE research and development.