What is Kirkstall’s  Quasi-Vivo^TM system?

For many years, the standard method of culturing cells has been Petri dishes. More recently, micro-well plates with 24, 96 or even 384 small cavities have been adopted as standards. Although cells can be successful cultured in this environment, it is fundamentally different from what happens in the human body.

In vivo cells are subject to a range of stimuli and stresses such as movement, pressure variations, varying oxygen and CO₂ levels, all of which will influence the way the cells develop.

The key features which are missing in well plates are:

Nutrient medium flow
3D rather than 2D cell colonies
Cell-to-cell signalling between different cell types

Kirkstall has developed the Quasi-Vivo^TM System  to address these needs and provide a more physiologically meaningful environment for cell culture.

With a Quasi-Vivo^TM System you can culture multiple cell types in inter-connected culture chambers where the nutrient flow between chambers mimics the role of blood in the body helping to perfuse the cells with oxygen and nutrients.

Kirkstall’s  Quasi-Vivo^TM system has several benefits:

• Control
  Control of O₂, pH, temperature, nutrient flow  AND physical, chemical and mechanical stimuli
• Cost
  Reduces cost as micro-fabricated reservoirs use only millilitres of nutrient media and micrograms of  expensive test compounds
• Flexibility
  Modular units have been designed with flexibility and ease of use in mind. 3D cultures on scaffolds, membranes or tissues can be connected in series or parallel. The system fits easily in a standard CO₂ incubators

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