Peter Zandstra, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering,, University of Toronto, College Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3E1, Canada
Stem cells have emerged as the starting material of choice for bioprocesses to produce cells and tissues to treat degenerative, genetic and immunological disease. Translating the biological properties and potential of stem cells into therapies will require overcoming significant cell manufacturing challenges. Bioprocess engineering fundamentals including bioreactor design and process control need to be combined with cellular systems biology principles to guide the development of next-generation technologies capable of producing cell-based products in a safe, robust and cost effective manner. Fundamentally, a strategy to control and predict stem cell responses to changes in molecular, cellular and microenvironmental conditions is required. At the molecular and cellular levels, an understanding of the parameters that govern the decision of an individual stem cell to undergo self-renewal vs. differentiation divisions, as well as how interactions between stem cells and their progeny impact culture output, is required. From a microenvironmental perspective, cost effective approaches to implement molecular and cellular requirements for cell growth must be incorporated into stem cell culture technologies. This presentation will review recent progress in our use of engineering – based approaches such modeling and bioreactor design, to enable stem cell based therapies and technologies.
