Development of an ex vivo bone marrow mimicry microenvironment in a novel 3D hollow fibre bioreactor (Conference Abstract)

Traditional ex vivo hematopoietic culture systems rely on liquid suspension cultures, where differentiation is achieved through the addition of abnormally high concentrations of cytokines or feeder layers. An experimental bone marrow biomimicry is required for physiologically relevant studies of blood cell expansion and maturation. We have previously developed a hollow fibre bioreactor that enables the long-term expansion of human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) mononuclear cells (MNCs) in the absence of exogenous cytokines; herein, we further characterise this ex vivo hematopoietic platform...