Electromagnetic Bioreactor

Electromagnetic bioreactor

The electromagnet enclosure was designed to be a safe and non-invasive method of modulating cellular substrate stiffness to induce biomimetic mechanical stimulation to matured and differentiating cardiomyocytes. This bioreactor is complimentary to the iron nanoparticle infused hydrogels developed in previously published works (1). Each of the electromagnets (APW Company, EM137-24-222) has a holding capacity of 20kg when 24V 0.2Amps is applied. The displacement of nanoparticles within the hydrogels is accomplished by modulation of the electromagnetic fields from 0 to 100% field strength, and the nature of an electronically controlled magnetic system provides precision application of the electromagnetic field. This enables tuning of differences observed in contraction profiles between immature and mature or healthy and diseased cardiomyocytes to be applied to the substrate of cells in culture that could potentially influence preconditioning or chamber specif