Hollow Fiber Bioreactor with Micro Anchor Arrays For the Biofabrication of Skeletal Muscle Tissues

We present a new type of hollow fiber bioreactor (HFB) enabled by microfabrication to produce cultured skeletal muscle tissues. The HFB consists of anchors and hollow fibers which can induce the alignment of muscle cells and can be steadily perfused. Using the HFB, we show the benefit of perfusion for better cell survival and tissue maturation. In the future, by increasing the number of hollow fibers, this bioreactor can be applied to the fabrication of centimeter-scale skeletal muscle tissues for cultured meat applications.