SUMMARY

Organ-on-a-chip platforms, referring to microfluidic biomimetic systems, combine cell culture, fluid gradients, and material design to simulate the microenvironment of various human organs. This technology has been growing in relevance over the past decade, with multiple companies and start-ups gaining funding to develop such platforms for drug development and personalized medicine. However, there still lies many challenges in manufacturing these complex and semi-living systems. This thesis presents a breakdown of the current engineering obstacles in bringing organ-on-a-chip technology to mass production and presents a partial solution for automated cell mixing and seeding. A device design is presented which sets out to fill a gap in the current production processes for organ-on-a-chip companies. First, a holistic approach to design is considered with overall requirements and specifications set out for a fully automatic hydrogel injecting and cell seeding device. Then, more detailed analysis of the mixing and injecting functions of the device are explored with computational fluid dynamics. A wide range of common hydrogels and their properties are analyzed and considered for maximum compatibility with various organ-on-a-chip designs. Variations of passive mixers are compared and optimized for varying levels of viscosity and shear-thinning properties. A method is presented for injection pressure control to adapt to sensitive organ-on-a-chip burst pressures. Additionally, design details for user usability such as ease of loading cells and compatibility with other lab equipment is considered and implemented in the final design model.