Inventors:
Dawn Orton Applegate - San Diego CA
Mark Applegate - San Diego CA
Mark Baumgartner - San Diego CA
John W. Bennett - San Diego CA
John Danssaert - San Diego CA
Robert Hardin - San Diego CA
Lee Laiterman - Los Gatos CA
Fred Schramm - Del Mar CA
William R. Tolbert - San Diego CA
Assignee:
Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc. - La Jolla CA
International Classification:
C12M 300
Abstract:
A tissue culture chamber is disclosed. The chamber is a casing that provides for growth of three-dimensional tissue, and more specifically for the growth of skin tissue, that can be grown, preserved in frozen form, and shipped to the end user in the same aseptic container. The tissue culture chamber includes a casing comprising a substrate within the casing designed to facilitate three-dimensional tissue growth on the surface of the substrate. The casing includes an inlet and an outlet port which assist the inflow and outflow of media. The casing also includes at least one flow distributor. In one embodiment, the flow distributor is a baffle, which is used to distribute the flow of the media within the chamber to create a continuous, uniform piece of three-dimensional tissue. In a second embodiment, the flow distributor is a combination of deflector plates, distribution channels, and a flow channel. In each embodiment, the casing further includes a seal so as to ensure an aseptic environment inside the chamber during tissue growth and storage.