Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34143169›Full record

ArticleLab on a chip2021

Upscaling of pneumatic membrane valves for the integration of 3D cell cultures on chip.

Nina Compera, Scott Atwell, Johannes Wirth, Bernhard Wolfrum, Matthias Meier

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Lab on a chip, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Augmented 3D Printing for Multiscale Microphysiological Systems.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Nina ComperaHelmholtz Pioneer Campus, Helmholtz Zentrum München GmbH, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany. matthias.meier@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
Scott AtwellHelmholtz Pioneer Campus, Helmholtz Zentrum München GmbH, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany. matthias.meier@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
Johannes WirthHelmholtz Pioneer Campus, Helmholtz Zentrum München GmbH, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany. matthias.meier@helmholtz-muenchen.de.
Bernhard WolfrumNeuroelectronics - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Matthias MeierHelmholtz Pioneer Campus, Helmholtz Zentrum München GmbH, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany. matthias.meier@helmholtz-muenchen.de and TUM School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-9455-4538
Pioneer (United States) · USBioElectronics (United States) · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Microfluidic large-scale integration (mLSI) technology enables the automation of two-dimensional (2D) cell culture processes in a highly parallel manner. Despite the wide range of biological applications of mLSI chips, manufacturing limitations of the central functional element, the pneumatic membrane valve (PMV), make the technology inaccessible for integrating tissue cultures and organoids with dimensions larger than tens of microns. In this study, we developed microtechnology processes to upscale PMVs for mLSI chips by combining 3D printing and soft lithography. Therefore, we developed a robust soft lithography protocol for the production of polydimethylsiloxane chips with PMVs from 3D-printed acrylate and wax molds. While scaled-up PMVs manufactured from acrylate-printed molds exhibited channel profiles with staircases, owing to the inherent 3D stereolithography printing process, PMVs manufactured from reflowed wax molds exhibited a semi-half-rounded channel profile. PMVs with different channel profiles showed closing pressures between 130 and 22.5 kPa, respectively. We demonstrated the functionality of the scaled-up PMVs by forming and maintaining 3D cell cultures from mouse fibroblasts (NIH3T3), human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), and human adipose-derived adult stem cells (hASCs), with a narrow size distribution between 124 and 136 μm. Further, parallel and serial design of PMVs on an mLSI chip is used to first form and culture 3D cell cultures before fusing them within a defined flow process. Unit cell designs with upscaled PMVs enabled parallel formation, culturing, trapping, retrieval, and fusion of 3D cell cultures. Thus, the presented additive manufacturing strategy for mLSI chips will foster new developments for highly parallel 3D cell culture screening applications.

Indexed as

Induced Pluripotent Stem CellsAnimalsCell Culture TechniquesHumansMiceMicrofluidicsNIH 3T3 CellsPrinting, Three-DimensionalStereolithography

Identifiers

PMID34143169
PMCPMC8314520
OpenAlexW3170235294

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.