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Since their inception over 25 years ago, microfluidic devices (ie, devices manipulating tiny amounts of fluid) have made dramatic advances. Among other advantages, the highly defined culture conditions over the cellular microenvironment they offer make them an exquisite tool to investigate the ex vivo expansion and differentiation of stem cells. In this book chapter, we illustrate the fluid mechanics that provide these highly defined conditions, present design considerations for microfluidic stem cell culture devices, discuss physical phenomena relevant to control the cellular microenvironment, and key detection techniques to monitor stem cell culture progress and outcome. This book chapter does not provide an exhaustive review of the field (the reader is guided to review articles), but rather seeks to introduce the stem cell bioprocess engineer interested in exploiting the advantages of microfluidic devices for the culture of stem cells. |
