TY - GEN

T1 - Camera-based In-Process Evaluation and Parameter Study of Core-Shell-Capsule Dimensions

AU - Budde, Leon

AU - Kraudelt, Scharon

AU - Dreger, Julia

AU - Egger, Dominik

AU - Seel, Thomas

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 IEEE.

PY - 2025/7/14

Y1 - 2025/7/14

N2 - In tissue engineering, the use of core-shell capsules (CSCs) enables the cultivation of cells in a physiologic, in vivo-like environment. However, controlling and standardizing the CSC manufacturing process is cumbersome due to manual handling and the large number of parameters affecting the process. Therefore, we developed a camera-based tool for the in-process evaluation of the droplets that later form the cores of CSCs and used it to investigate the influence of two process parameters on the CSC core diameter in-process rather than post-process. For this, we obtained images of the droplets mid-fall and extracted their mean diameter to compare it to the final CSC core size, which was determined by microscopy. To obtain CSC cores of different sizes, we changed the flow rate of the droplet solution and the gauge size of the cannula, obtaining six sets of process parameters. In general, the diameter of the CSC cores decreased with a decreasing cannula diameter. The influence of the flow rate was only significant for the smaller of two cannula diameters with higher flow rates leading to smaller CSC cores but also a larger variability in diameter. When we compared the diameters of the droplets in-process to the diameters of the CSC cores post-process, we found a significant correlation (Pearson-Coefficient 0.94) between the two. Our results demonstrate the potential of using an in-process monitoring approach to make the process tuning procedure more efficient, even enabling automated tuning through a feedback loop.

AB - In tissue engineering, the use of core-shell capsules (CSCs) enables the cultivation of cells in a physiologic, in vivo-like environment. However, controlling and standardizing the CSC manufacturing process is cumbersome due to manual handling and the large number of parameters affecting the process. Therefore, we developed a camera-based tool for the in-process evaluation of the droplets that later form the cores of CSCs and used it to investigate the influence of two process parameters on the CSC core diameter in-process rather than post-process. For this, we obtained images of the droplets mid-fall and extracted their mean diameter to compare it to the final CSC core size, which was determined by microscopy. To obtain CSC cores of different sizes, we changed the flow rate of the droplet solution and the gauge size of the cannula, obtaining six sets of process parameters. In general, the diameter of the CSC cores decreased with a decreasing cannula diameter. The influence of the flow rate was only significant for the smaller of two cannula diameters with higher flow rates leading to smaller CSC cores but also a larger variability in diameter. When we compared the diameters of the droplets in-process to the diameters of the CSC cores post-process, we found a significant correlation (Pearson-Coefficient 0.94) between the two. Our results demonstrate the potential of using an in-process monitoring approach to make the process tuning procedure more efficient, even enabling automated tuning through a feedback loop.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105023762022&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/EMBC58623.2025.11253035

DO - 10.1109/EMBC58623.2025.11253035

M3 - Conference contribution

C2 - 41336109

AN - SCOPUS:105023762022

T3 - Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference

SP - 1

EP - 7

BT - 2025 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

ER -