AI-Enabled Design of Electroactive Surfaces for Sustainable Cell Culture

About

This project addresses the critical problem of biomedical waste, specifically the over 300 million liters of cell culture waste generated annually. Conventional trypsinization, the primary method for cell dissociation, is labor intensive and generates significant waste, often resulting in cell damage and genetic mutations. The team, led by Christoph Lippert (HPI) and Kripa Varanasi (MIT), investigates a novel cell dissociation technology using electroactive materials with hierarchical microtextures for gentle cell detachment, complemented by a customized machine learning platform to analyze the spatio-temporal changes in cell morphology triggered by surface stimuli. This technology aims to reduce biomedical waste, protect sensitive primary cells and support high-throughput automated workflows. By minimizing waste and aligning with the United Nations' sustainability goals, our approach meets a critical need in cell culture and tissue engineering.