Abstract: A cell culture substrate (200, 308) for a fixed bed bioreactor and a fixed bed bioreactor having such a cell culture substrate is provided. The substrate has a structurally defined surface for culturing cells thereon, where the structurally defined surface defines an ordered and regular array of openings through a thickness of the cell culture substrate. At least a portion of the cell culture substrate includes a sample substrate, the sample substrate being defined by a separation boundary between the sample substrate and a remainder of the cell culture substrate, and the separation boundary allows separation of the sample substrate from the remainder of the cell culture substrate. A bioreactor (300) having ports for aseptic removal of the sample substrate is also provided.

Abstract: Systems and methods for the continuous production of digestible scaffolds for three-dimensional cell growth applications are provided. Systems for producing cell culture scaffolds include a housing and a plurality of modular components disposed in a serial arrangement within the housing, the modular components connected through a plurality of microfluidic flow channels. The modular components may comprise an emulsifier, a coating reactor, and a separator. Optionally, systems may comprise a porous membrane. Methods include cross-linking of polymer solutions into gels of discrete shapes; binding a layer of cell growth media to the gels; and drying or dehydrating the gels to form an aerogel functionalized for use as cell growth media.