Microfluidic devices for biomedical applications

Abstract

This chapter begins by outlining the key hurdles that currently exist in terms of achieving directed tissue genesis, in vitro and in vivo, from available mature, progenitor and stem cell sources. The chapter then proceeds to describe how microfluidic device platforms can provide the required insights to overcome these hurdles to clinical translation, including the optimization of soluble factor provision to enhance cell expansion and differentiation outcomes, the impacts of pore architecture and surface engineering on scaffold colonization, and the biophysical needs of cells when creating three dimensional artificial vascular pedicles for improved scaffold vascularization post-implantation.