Currently there is an urgent clinical need for small diameter vascular grafts. Tissue engineered blood vessels presently in clinical trials take months to culture and require extensive graft manipulation. The aim of this project was to design a bioreactor which could generate small diameter tissue engineered vascular grafts directly into tubular constructs, thus reducing culture time. A novel cartridge was designed as a housing for hollow, porous fibers which were used as support structures for tissue growth. The bioreactor design incorporates a pump which allows for both artificial capillary cell culture and a novel vacuum cell seeding technique. Computer modeling and physical flow testing were used to validate the appropriateness of the design for the production of vascular grafts.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Skelly, Jordan D.
• Thompson, Jennifer Lynn
• Spoor, Lauren Marie
• Lopez, Andres Daniel

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042909-215711

Advisor

• Rolle, Marsha Whitney

Year

• 2009

Date created

• 2009-04-29

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biomedical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Last modified

• 2021-02-02