A 3D-Printed Compact Multi-Nozzle Microfluidic Device for Scalable Microencapsulation of Pluripotent Stem Cells

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Stem Cell Biology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Encapsulation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is crucial for tissue engineering, drug screening, and cellular therapies.
• Existing methods often face a trade-off between capsule complexity and production speed.
• Microcapsules facilitate hPSC organization, in vitro differentiation, and in vivo immunoisolation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel microfluidic device for efficient and structurally complex microcapsule fabrication.
• To overcome the limitations of current encapsulation techniques regarding throughput and complexity.
• To enable scalable encapsulation of hPSCs for therapeutic applications.

Main Methods:

• A novel 3D printed microfluidic device was designed and fabricated.
• The device utilizes multiple nozzles for high-throughput microcapsule generation.
• Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including hESCs and iPSCs, were encapsulated within hydrogel microcapsules.

Main Results:

• The 3D printed device achieved high-throughput fabrication of microcapsules (up to 1825 Hz).
• A 10-nozzle device demonstrated a tenfold increase in production rate compared to a single-nozzle device.
• Encapsulated hPSCs formed spheroids/embryoid bodies and maintained pluripotency.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D printed microfluidic technology enables efficient, high-throughput encapsulation of hPSCs.
• This method produces structurally complex microcapsules suitable for various biomedical applications.
• The technology supports the large-scale encapsulation of hPSCs necessary for clinical treatments.