Abstract Protecting surface water quality can be complicated by high spatiotemporal variability. Pollutant sources and transport pathways may be identified through sufficiently high‐density monitoring sites and high‐frequency sampling, but practical considerations necessitate tradeoffs between spatial and temporal resolution in water quality monitoring network design. We examined how tradeoffs in sampling density and frequency affect measures of spatiotemporal variability in water quality, emphasizing pattern stability over time. We quantified the spatial stability of stream water quality across >250 monitoring sites in the intensively monitored watershed draining to Lake Okeechobee, FL using Spearman's rank correlations between instantaneous observations and site long‐term means for each parameter. We found that water quality spatial patterns for geogenic, biogenic, and anthropogenic parameters were generally stable on decadal timescales for all solutes, and that sampling densely in space yields more information than sampling frequently in time. Variations in spatial stability decreased with increased sampling density but not with greater sampling frequency, attesting to the dominance of spatial variability over temporal variability. For nutrients, the spatial coefficient of variation (CV) was approximately double the temporal CV. Spatial stability of most solutes was similar across flow conditions, but high‐flow monitoring allows for more sites that effectively capture the long‐term spatial patterns of nutrient sources. Water quality monitoring regimes can be optimized for efficiency in capturing water quality patterns and should be adjusted to focus more on spatial variation. We discuss potential improvements for water quality monitoring, particularly in watersheds where scarce resources necessitate tradeoffs between sampling density and frequency.
more »
« less
Localized Sampling Enables Monitoring of Cell State via Inline Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Abstract Nascent advanced therapies, including regenerative medicine and cell and gene therapies, rely on the production of cells in bioreactors that are highly heterogeneous in both space and time. Unfortunately, advanced therapies have failed to reach a wide patient population due to unreliable manufacturing processes that result in batch variability and cost prohibitive production. This can be attributed largely to a void in existing process analytical technologies (PATs) capable of characterizing the secreted critical quality attribute (CQA) biomolecules that correlate with the final product quality. The Dynamic Sampling Platform (DSP) is a PAT for cell bioreactor monitoring that can be coupled to a suite of sensor techniques to provide real‐time feedback on spatial and temporal CQA content in situ. In this study, DSP is coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and direct‐from‐culture sampling to obtain measures of CQA content in bulk media and the cell microenvironment throughout the entire cell culture process (≈3 weeks). Post hoc analysis of this real‐time data reveals that sampling from the microenvironment enables cell state monitoring (e.g., confluence, differentiation). These results demonstrate that an effective PAT should incorporate both spatial and temporal resolution to serve as an effective input for feedback control in biomanufacturing.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1648035
- PAR ID:
- 10453150
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Biotechnology Journal
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1860-6768
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Recent developments in mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapies have increased the demand for tools to improve their manufacture, including the selection of optimal culture substrate materials. While many clinical manufacturers use planar tissue culture plastic (TCP) surfaces for MSC production, others have begun exploring the use of alternative culture substrates that present a variety of spatial, mechanical, and biochemical cues that influence cell expansion and resulting cell quality. In this review, the effects of culture and material properties distinct from traditional planar TCP surfaces on MSC proliferation, surface marker expression, and commonly used indications for therapeutic potency are examined. The different properties summarized include the use of alternative culture formats such as cellular aggregates or 3D scaffolds, as well as the effects of culture substrate stiffness and presentation of specific adhesive ligands and topographical cues. Specific substrate properties can be related to greater cell expansion and improvement in specific therapeutic functionalities, demonstrating the utility of culture materials in further improving the clinical‐scale manufacture of highly secretory MSC products.more » « less
-
Jeong, Jichai; Mongan, William M (Ed.)Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. The differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into functional cardiomyocytes offers significant potential for disease modeling and cell-based cardiac therapies. However, hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) remain largely immature, limiting their experimental and clinical applications. A critical challenge in current in vitro culture systems is the absence of standardized metrics to quantify maturity. This study presents a data-driven pipeline to quantify hPSC-CM maturity using gene expression data across various stages of cardiac development. We determined that culture time serves as a feasible proxy for maturity. To improve prediction accuracy, machine learning algorithms were employed to identify heart-related genes whose expression strongly correlates with culture time. Our results reduced the average discrepancy between predicted and observed culture time to 4.461 days and CASQ2 (Calsequestrin 2), a gene involved in calcium ion storage and transport, was identified as the most critical cardiac gene associated with culture duration. This novel framework for maturity assessment moves beyond traditional qualitative methods, providing deeper insights into hPSC-CM maturation dynamics. It establishes a foundation for developing advanced lab-on-chip devices capable of real-time maturity monitoring and adaptive stimulus selection, paving the way for improved maturation strategies and broader experimental/clinical applications.more » « less
-
Abstract The rapidly expanding market for regenerative medicines and cell therapies highlights the need to advance the understanding of cellular metabolisms and improve the prediction of cultivation production process for human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In this paper, a metabolic kinetic model was developed to characterize the underlying mechanisms of iPSC culture process, which can predict cell response to environmental perturbation and support process control. This model focuses on the central carbon metabolic network, including glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and amino acid metabolism, which plays a crucial role to support iPSC proliferation. Heterogeneous measures of extracellular metabolites and multiple isotopic tracers collected under multiple conditions were used to learn metabolic regulatory mechanisms. Systematic cross‐validation confirmed the model's performance in terms of providing reliable predictions on cellular metabolism and culture process dynamics under various culture conditions. Thus, the developed mechanistic kinetic model can support process control strategies to strategically select optimal cell culture conditions at different times, ensure cell product functionality, and facilitate large‐scale manufacturing of regenerative medicines and cell therapies.more » « less
-
Inkjet three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as a transformative manufacturing technique, finding applications in diverse fields such as biomedical, metal fabrication, and functional materials production. It involves precise deposition of materials onto a moving substrate through a nozzle, achieving submillimeter scale resolution. However, the dynamic nature of droplet deposition introduces uncertainties, challenging consistent quality control. Current process monitoring, relying on image-based techniques, is slow and limited, hindering real-time feedback in erratic droplet ejection. In response to these challenges, we present the zero-dimensional ultrafast sensing (0-DUS) system, a novel, cost-effective, in situ monitoring tool designed to assess the quality of drop-on-demand inkjet printing. The 0-DUS system leverages the sensitivity of the light-beam field interference effect to rapidly and precisely detect and analyze localized droplets. Two core technical advancements drive this innovation: first, the exploration of integral sensing of the computational light-beam field, which allows for efficient extraction of temporal and spatial information about droplet evolution, introducing a novel in situ sensing modality; second, the establishment of a robust mapping mechanism that aligns sensor data with image-based data, facilitating accurate estimation of droplet characteristics. We successfully implemented the 0-DUS system within a commercial inkjet printer and conducted a comparative analysis with ground truth data. Our experimental results demonstrate a detection accuracy exceeding 95%, even at elevated speeds, allowing for an impressive in situ certification throughput of up to 500 Hz. Consequently, our proposed 0-DUS system meets the stringent quality assurance requirements, thereby expanding the potential applications of inkjet printing across a wide spectrum of industrial sectors.more » « less
An official website of the United States government
