title: The e-incubator: a magnetic resonance imaging-compatible mini incubator.
abstract: The tissue engineering community has been vocal regarding the need for noninvasive instruments to assess the development of tissue-engineered constructs. Medical imaging has helped fulfill this role. However, specimens allocated to a test tube for imaging cannot be tested for a prolonged period or returned to the incubator. Therefore, samples are essentially wasted due to potential contamination and transfer in a less than optimal growth environment. In turn, we present a standalone, miniature, magnetic resonance imaging-compatible incubator, termed the e-incubator. This incubator uses a microcontroller unit to automatically sense and regulate physiological conditions for tissue culture, thus allowing for concurrent tissue culture and evaluation. The e-incubator also offers an innovative scheme to study underlying mechanisms related to the structural and functional evolution of tissues. Importantly, it offers a key step toward enabling real-time testing of engineered tissues before human transplantation. For validation purposes, we cultured tissue-engineered bone constructs for 4 weeks to test the e-incubator. Importantly, this technology allows for visualizing the evolution of temporal and spatial morphogenesis. In turn, the e-incubator can filter deficient constructs, thereby increasing the success rate of implantation of tissue-engineered constructs, especially as construct design grows in levels of complexity to match the geometry and function of patients' unique needs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, Nebraska.
authors.forename: Shadi F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wartella
authors.forename: Vahid Khalilzad
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Sharghi
authors.forename: Huihui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*