The Center for Modular Manufacturing of Structural Tissues is a consortium between Case Western Reserve University and the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), that focuses on developing technologies to enable scalable, modular, automated, closed (SMAC) manufacturing.
We emphasize the following areas: control of cell phenotype and function, smart scaffold development, bioinstructive bioreactors, and finally integration and automation, each embodied in one TR&D project. There are four principal research groups under the umbrella of the Center, each focusing on a Technology Research and Development (TR&D) project:
- TR&D-1: Cell Fabrication. TR&D-1 covers dynamic control of cell phenotype and function during the manufacturing process, and development of tissue-specific sensors for dynamic non-invasive monitoring of cell phenotype and function.
- TR&D-2: Sensor Enabled Scaffolds. TR&D-2 integrates sensors and biosensors into scaffolds to measure/monitor cellular attachment and function.
- TR&D-3: Instructive Bioreactor Systems. TR&D-3 develops bio-instructive bioreactors with integrated actuators and sensors for feedback control, and will physically integrate them with the Tissue Foundry, an ARMI prototype automated TEMP assembly line.
- TR&D-4: Growing Tissue in the Scalable, Modular, Automated, and Closed (SMAC) Foundry. TR&D-4 integrates sensors and actuators with the automation and data management system of the Tissue Foundry, and will perform a manufacturing demonstration run.