About

Autonomous cell culture monitoring  

MaraCells develops a near-infrared optical nano-sensor technology for autonomous monitoring of cell cultures. The objective is to develop a multi-sensor platform for the continuous monitoring of bio-analytes in physiological liquids. The project focuses on the development of cell culture monitoring sensors for applications in cell culture expansion systems applied in stem cell therapy, organ culture, and personalized tissue engineering. These technologies require cell culturing under strictly controlled conditions and require high-throughput processing. Monitoring of bio-analytes, such as glucose and lactate is a crucial factor for quality control and optimization of cell culture growth conditions. Glucose is the main source of energy for living organisms and it is commonly used as a nutrient in cell culture. To sustain normal growth and minimize the risk of developing pathologies in the cells, it is critical to control the concentration of glucose in cell culture media and maintain it within the physiological limits. As glucose is consumed by living cells during their proliferation its concentration should be monitored and maintained constant during the process. This calls for miniaturized, continuous monitoring devices, which can be integrated into cell culture incubators and bioreactors. The first target of MaraCells is a valorisation of the autonomous glucose monitoring sensor technology. Next, milestones are to demonstrate the versatility of the platform applying it for lactate and other analytes of interest. We believe that this the MaraCells technology will become a versatile platform for sensing biomolecules.