Faculty of Engineering
Speaker: Prof. Gerardo Catapano, Department of Environmental and Land Engineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Calabria [email protected]
Extended
The aim of this lecture is to discuss the importance of bioreactors for tissue engineering, to highlight the complexity of their designing and scaling (whether -up or -down), and to stress the importance of using the methods of biochemical reaction engineering for their conception and design opposite to the often used brick building approach.
To this purpose, firstly the requirements of bioreactors for tissue engineering and the limitations of static bioreactors shall be discussed. Secondly, the steps through which solutes are transported to/from cells and their interplay with cell metabolism shall be presented and it shall be discussed how new bioreactor concepts have been developed to minimize any given specific solute transport resistance. Lastly, an exemplary bioreactor for tissue engineering shall be analyzed to outline the importance of experimental fluid dynamic characterization and dimensionless groups to bioreactor design, operation and scaling.
Biosketch
Prof. Gerardo Catapano is Full Professor of Industrial Bioengineering at the Department of Environmental and Land Engineering and Chemical Engineering (DIATIC) of the University of Calabria.
He is Vice-President of the Italian Society of Biomaterials (SIB) and member of the Board of Directors of the European Society for Artificial Organs (ESAO). He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the following journals: Artificial Organs, Journal of Applied Biomaterials and Functional Materials, Technology and Healthcare.
His research interests concern: development and optimization of artificial, bioartificial and bioengineered organs; development and characterization of semipermeable membranes and membrane systems; development of in vitro methods for drug toxicity screening as an alternative to animal models.
