2008 Cartilage Bioreactor

Team Members:  Matthew Johnson, Elena Liang, Aron Lau

Capstone Client:  Alfred Kuo, MD, Orthopaedic Surgery, UCSF

Purpose/Goal:
More than 40 million Americans (~15% of the overall U.S. population) suffer from arthritis. Human cartilage has limited to no ability to heal itself when it is badly damaged. The capstone team set out to design a bioreactor for chondrocytes (cartilage cells) that replicates some of the conditions experienced by cells in human joints in order to create better, stronger tissues for research and therapeutic use. The design will incorporate methods for controlling hydrostatic pressure

2008 orthopaedic prototype