Microfluidic Devices as Process Development Tools for Cellular Therapy Manufacturing

Cellular therapies are creating a paradigm shift in the biomanufacturing industry. Particularly for autologous therapies, small-scale processing methods are better suited than the large-scale approaches that are traditionally employed in the industry. Current small-scale methods for manufacturing personalized cell therapies, however, are labour-intensive and involve a number of 'open events'. To overcome these challenges, new cell manufacturing platforms following a GMP-in-a-box concept have recently come on the market (GMP: Good Manufacturing Practice). These are closed automated systems with built-in pumps for fluid handling and sensors for in-process monitoring. At a much smaller scale, microfluidic devices exhibit many of the same features as current GMP-in-a-box systems. They are closed systems, fluids can be processed and manipulated, and sensors integrated for real-time detection of process variables. Fabricated from polymers, they can be made disposable, i.e. single-use. Furthermore, microfluidics offers exquisite spatiotemporal control over the cellular microenvironment, promising both reproducibility and control of outcomes. In this chapter, we consider the challenges in cell manufacturing, highlight recent advances of microfluidic devices for each of the main process steps, and summarize our findings on the current state of the art. As microfluidic cell culture devices have been reported for both adherent and suspension cell cultures, we report on devices for the key process steps, or unit operations, of both stem cell therapies and cell-based immunotherapies.