'Smart Marbles' developed in MSAL hold promise for better outcomes from bioreactors

The work was done by MSAL members Justin Stine (ECE), Luke Beardslee, M.D., Ph.D., and Professor Reza Ghodssi (ECE/ISR), along with MSAL collaborators Chen-Yu Chen, Wu Shang (BIOE/Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices), and Professor William Bentley (BIOE/Fischell Institute). It was judged by 17 major biopharmaceutical companies at the June 2018 Advanced Mammalian Biomanufacturing Innovation Center (AMBIC) meeting at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) in Fremont, Calif. The new invention is called a bPod (for bioreactor pod); its nickname is “smart marble.” The bPods are neutrally buoyant sterilizable microsystem sensor devices that could work within a bioreactor as its process is underway.