Gas plays a crucial role in cell culture as cells require a specific gas environment to maintain their growth, reproduction, and function. Here, we propose a gas supply system for tri-gas multi-channel cell incubators to meet the specific needs of various cells. The system utilizes a circulating gas supply method powered by air pumps for each chamber. Gas inflow from the cylinder is independently controlled by Mass Flow Controllers (MFCs), and a quantitative step-by-step adjustment control strategy is employed to calculate the volume of different gases being introduced. Through mixing simulations and experiments, we identified the SV static mixer with an L/D ratio of 2.5 as the optimal choice. To evaluate the concentration accuracy and gas consumption of the gas system, we conduct gas mixing and distribution experiments under different conditions. The results show that the system could achieve a concentration range of 0–100% for O₂ with an accuracy of ±0.5%, and a concentration range of 0–10% for CO₂ with an accuracy of ±0.1%. The daily gas consumption during cultivation is 3570 mL of N₂, 330 mL of CO₂, and 115 mL of O₂, significantly lower than conventional incubators. Overall, our system can effectively manage dynamic gas concentration changes, particularly in high O₂ concentration environments. It offers advantages such as low gas consumption, a wide concentration range, and high accuracy compared to existing incubators.

In assisted reproductive technology (ART), maintaining a uniform and stable temperature field within the culture space is critical for ensuring consistent embryo development quality. Traditional heating methods often overlook the inherent heat transfer characteristics of the system, resulting in significant temperature gradients across the culture space. This study introduces a quantitative optimization approach for the heating element, focusing on metal foil as a case study, to enhance temperature uniformity in the embryo chamber. We employ numerical simulation techniques to analyze the temperature distribution of the cultivation chamber based on the layout of the heating elements. After the chamber achieves heat transfer equilibrium, we segment the culture chamber structure into multiple isothermal regions and apply the law of energy conservation to establish a mathematical relationship between the changes in heating element resistance and temperature within each region. By iteratively adjusting the length or width of the metal foil in different areas, we optimize the temperature distribution of the overall structure, thereby improving the uniformity of the temperature field within the embryo chamber. The experimental results indicate that the optimized heating element reduces the temperature gradient within the culture chamber from 0.5 °C to less than 0.1 °C, providing robust technical support for enhancing embryo development quality and consistency.

Preterm infants, especially extremely preterm infants under 28 weeks of gestation, face high mortality rates due to respiratory distress resulting from pulmonary immaturity. Conventional mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy inevitably cause irreversible lung injury or severe complications, respectively. Here, we developed a microfluidic oxygenator (MO) mimicking the human alveolar-capillary barrier to provide respiratory support for preterm infants. These structures promoted uniform flow distribution, reduced high-shear stress and flow stagnation, and improved gas exchange efficiency. In vitro experiments demonstrated that a single-layer MO raised blood oxygen saturation from 64.7% to 96.5% at 8 mL/min, with a corrected vol% oxygen transfer of 5.24% (52.4 mL O₂/L blood). Hemolysis and coagulation measurements after a 6 h circulation confirmed good hemocompatibility, with most blood damage attributable to the pump. An eight-layer stacked MO was configured with a total priming volume of approximately 5.6 mL and a pressure drop of 25–35 mmHg at 24–40 mL/min, indicating its potential in pumpless extracorporeal circulation for preterm neonates. This MO holds promise for providing minimally invasive and customizable respiratory support in an artificial uterus system.