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The aim of this project is to re-design and improve upon a previous version of a bioreactor that will be used for the culturing of human vocal fold fibroblasts. The previous design was able to vibrate two pairs of cell-seeded strips under tensile stress, but had design flaws that needed improvement, including keeping the bioreactor leak-proof, subjecting the cells to more stimuli, and allowing the equipment providing the stimuli to be controlled by a computer. Our goals are to finish the design and fabrication of this new model, to obtain a substitute for the cellular substrate, Tecoflex, and to test the bioreactor and cellular substrate for optimal design and operating conditions. The bioreactor will be made from two T-flasks, two moving magnet linear voice coil actuators, two rotary stepper motors, and two linear stepper motors. A total of four pairs of cells will be immersed in a buffer in two T-flasks, and subjected to vibration, tensile stress, and angular changes between each pair of strips. This device needs to be easily replaced with disposable and/or sterilizable parts, fit inside a standard incubator, and have a capacity to generate vibrations within the frequency range of 50-400 Hz.
From left to right: Joel Gaston, Kara Barnhart, Rachel Mosher
Successfully Completed
| Week | Reporting Period Beginning | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 7 | First team meeting, assigned team roles, wrote PDS, initial client meeting |
| 2 | September 14 | Discussed design ideas, brainstormed solutions, wrote design matrix |
| 3 | September 21 | Started assembly of Bioreactor for testing of design, team update on everyones individual accomplishments, second client meeting |
| 4 | September 28 | Started work on mid-semester report, worked on presentation, received parts, continued assembly |
| 5 | October 5 | Presented bioreactor and future work to clients lab staff, continued work on mid-semester report, finished presentation |
| 6 | October 12 | Finished mid-semester report, looked at cellular substrates, discussed team goals, presented project to design class |
| 7 | October 19 | Discussed individual goals, assigned tasks to be completed, third client meeting |
| 8 | October 26 | Discussed cellular substrate progress, what still needs to be done on machining of bioreactor |
| 9 | November 2 | Tested suspension system, brainstormed ideas to improve cellular substrate |
| 10 | November 9 | Discussed further future testing, fourth client meeting |
| 11 | November 16 | Continued with individual goals, including machining and cellular substrate progress |
| 12 | November 23 | Formulated testing protocols, detemined the layout and content of the poster, and the timeline for testing |
| 13 | November 30 | Completed testing, met with man programming motors, fifth client meeting, presented project |
| 14 | December 7 | Finished final report |
| 15 | December 14 |
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PDS (Oct 10 2007, 97 kb) |
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Mid-Semester Presentation (Oct 18 2007, 2487 kb) |
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Mid-Semester Report (Oct 24 2007, 405 kb) |
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Final Poster (Dec 7 2007, 1254 kb) |
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Final Report (Dec 13 2007, 960 kb) |
