Cassette Based Robotic Multiple Cell Culture System

The specific innovation proposed for continued research is a family of fully-automated (robotic) cell-culture systems, each a laboratory in a cassette, named collectively ?Multicult?. SHOT will incorporate several technical innovations, including options for gentle mixing of cell suspensions, transparent monolayer culture surfaces, control of inertial load (?g-level?) by rotation within the cassette, pH monitoring, adding fresh medium or fixatives with immediate mixing, and real-time imaging of cells in transparent containers. SHOT will perform research leading to (1) a cassette-based rotating plate for exposing 8 cultures of suspended cells to acceleration levels from 1 to 5 g while facilitating fluid additions and balancing out all forces other than centrifugal and gravity vectors, (2) a curved-wall transparent culture vessel for centrifugal studies of adherent cells, (3) a miniaturized non-invasive pH reader, (4) a compact video microscope, (5) a control-and-data network of embedded processors, and (6) a deliverable prototype cassette-based Multicult system incorporating these features for the sponsor. SHOT will use the results of this research to develop, in addition to a cell culture capability for space flight, marketable instruments based on its pH reader, centrifugal culture plates and autonomously controlled Multicults.