Design of a System for Inexpensive Underwater Fiber Optic In Vivo Imaging and Mass Balance Accounting of Tissue Engineering Candidates

Abstract

The goal of this project is to create a prototype bioreactor that mimics a cell’s microenvironment. The ultimate goal is to set up an array of 36 bioreactors in parallel and monitor them with an array of sensors that will enable full mass and energy balance accounting and in vivo imaging. This thesis will analyze the various options available for cell imaging, as well as describe the construction of a bioreactor design in which cell images can be obtained without removing the cells from the bioreactor. The hypothesis for this project is that imaging of unstained cells in an aquarium environment is possible with a fiber optic microscope camera that is inexpensive enough such that each bioreactor has one.