Department of Microsystems, Faculty of Electronics, Photonics and Microsystems, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 27 Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego Street, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland.
Laboratory of Experimental Anticancer Therapy, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 12 R. Weigla Street, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Aug 18;22(16):6183. doi: 10.3390/s22166183.
In the paper, the lab-on-chip platform applicable for the long-term cultivation of human cancer cells, as a solution meeting the demands of the CubeSat biological missions, is presented. For the first time, the selected cancer cell lines-UM-UC-3 and RT 112 were cultured on-chip for up to 50 days. The investigation was carried out in stationary conditions (without medium microflow) in ambient temperature and utilizing the microflow perfusion system in the incubation chamber assuring typical cultivation atmosphere (37 °C). All the experiments were performed to imitate the conditions that are provided before the biological mission starts (waiting for the rocket launch) and when the actual experiment is initialized on a CubeSat board in space microgravity. The results of the tests showed appropriate performance of the lab-on-chip platform, especially in the context of material and technological biocompatibility. Cultured cells were characterized by adequate morphology-high attachment rate and visible signs of proliferation in each of the experimental stage. These results are a good basis for further tests of the lab-on-chip platform in both terrestrial and space conditions. At the end of the manuscript, the authors provide some considerations regarding a potential 3-Unit CubeSat biological mission launched with Virgin Orbit company. The lab-on-chip platform was modelled to fit a 2-Unit autonomous laboratory payload.
本文提出了一种适用于人类癌细胞长期培养的片上实验室平台，作为满足 CubeSat 生物任务需求的解决方案。首次在芯片上对选定的癌细胞系 UM-UC-3 和 RT 112 进行了长达 50 天的培养。在环境温度下，在静止条件（无培养基微流）下进行了研究，并利用孵育室中的微流灌注系统保证了典型的培养气氛（37°C）。所有实验都是为了模拟生物任务开始前（等待火箭发射）和实际实验在 CubeSat 板上初始化时的空间微重力条件而进行的。测试结果表明，片上实验室平台表现良好，特别是在材料和技术生物相容性方面。培养的细胞表现出适当的形态——高附着率和在每个实验阶段都有明显的增殖迹象。这些结果为进一步在地球和空间条件下对片上实验室平台进行测试提供了良好的基础。在本文的最后，作者对 Virgin Orbit 公司发射的潜在 3 单元 CubeSat 生物任务提供了一些考虑。对片上实验室平台进行了建模，以适应 2 单元自主实验室有效载荷。
