Robotics-Driven Manufacturing of Cartilaginous Microtissues for Skeletal Tissue Engineering Applications

Automated technologies are attractive for enhancing the robust manufacturing of tissue-engineered products for clinical translation. In this work, we present an automation strategy using a robotics platform for media changes, and imaging of cartilaginous microtissues cultured in static microwell platforms. We use an automated image analysis pipeline to extract microtissue displacements and morphological features as noninvasive quality attributes. As a result, empty microwells were identified with a 96% accuracy, and dice coefficient of 0.84 for segmentation. Design of experiment are used for the optimization of liquid handling parameters to minimize empty microwells during long-term differentiation protocols. We found no significant effect of aspiration or dispension speeds at and beyond manual speed. Instead, repeated media changes and time in culture were the driving force or microtissue displacements. As the ovine model is the preclinical model of choice for large skeletal defects, we used ovine periosteum-derived cells to form cartilage-intermediate microtissues. Increased expression of COL2A1 confirms chondrogenic differentiation and RUNX2 shows no osteogenic specification. Histological analysis shows an increased secretion of cartilaginous extracellular matrix and glycosaminoglycans in larger microtissues. Furthermore, microtissue-based implants are capable of forming mineralized tissues and bone after 4 weeks of ectopic implantation in nude mice. We demonstrate the development of an integrated bioprocess for culturing and manipulation of cartilaginous microtissues and anticipate the progressive substitution of manual operations with automated solutions for the manufacturing of microtissue-based living implants.