Imaging-Guided Bioreactor for Generating Bioengineered Airway Tissue

This protocol allows in vitro cultivation and direct microscopic visualization of the isolated airway tissues during different tissue manipulation procedures, such as de-epithelization and airway tissue regeneration. The in situ imaging proposed in this study allows rapid and non-destructive monitoring of the tracheal lumen during imaging-guided controlled removal of the endogenous epithelium and delivery of the exogenous cells. The imaging-guided bioreactive platform and the tissue manipulation protocols can be used to generate bioengineered airway tissue for disease modeling and drug screening.

The construction and usage of the imaging-enabled airway tissue bioreactor will be demonstrated by two PhD students from our research group, Mohammad Mir, and Jiawen Chen. To begin creating in situ imaging device, insert a tube lens into a stackable lens tube and secure it using a retaining ring. Then, mount the lens table assembly onto a scientific CMOS camera via a C-mount adapter.