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Kima Pump

Kima pump is a microfluidic recirculating pump designed to aid cell culture (e.g. endothelial cells) under physiological conditions (shear flow) in various biochips and flow chambers.

Kima pump is a microfluidic recirculating pump controlled by a PC. Suitable for continuous microbe and cell culture under shear flow mimicking physiological flow in the human vasculature. Applications include biofilm studies, cell culture in biochips with adherent cells (HUVECs), stem cells, HepG2 cells.

The Kima pump is controlled by the KimaFlow control software for use with a PC. The Kima pump can be placed inside a standard incubator. The Kima pump connects easily to Cellix’s Vena8 Endothelial+ biochip and other manufacturer’s flow chambers via fully autoclavable tubing and delivers pulses of fresh media to cells seeded inside the microchannels of the biochip.

The Kima pump when used with the Vena8 Endothelial+ biochip offers 8 parallel microchannels and with additional Kima pumps the Kima controller can control and run up to 32 microchannels.

• CELL CULTURE UNDER FLOW: simple culture of endothelial cell monolayers under physiological conditions (shear stress) in flow chambers and 8 cell monoalyers in Vena8 Endothelial+ biochips within 24-48 hours
• RECIRCULATING CULTURE MEDIA: saves reagents and no additional fluidic valves required
• INCUBATOR SAFE: Fits inside all standard CO2  incubators.  No additional temperature or humidity control required
• PULSATILE: apply continuous or periodic pulsing flow to cell monolayers in culture
• PROGRAMMABLE with iPod Touch
• EASY TO USE: control up to 4 pumps with the same controller via PC software KimaFlo control 

A Kima pump setup will look like this:

Technical Specifications

Pumping Modes	2 modes of pumping: wash and perfusion
Dead Volume	<  300 μL
Flow Rate	Perfusion mode:  15 - 35 mL/hr (*) +/- 4%
Shear Stress Range	Perfusion mode:  ~2.5 to ~6.5 dyne/cm2 (**)
Flow Direction	Dispense only
Pump Running Conditions	Temperature 10°C–60°C Humidity <98% RH
Controller	4 sockets enabling up to 4 Kima pumps to be run independently
Controller Communication	Wi-Fi or USB
Software Control	KimaFlow software running on Windows PC
Dimensions of pump	190 mm (L) x 85 mm (W) x 90 mm (H)
Weight	Pump: 0.8 Kg (excludes bottle and tubing weight) Controller: 0.55 Kg
Power Requirement	Input: 110/220V - 50/60Hz Output: 12VDC 3.33A max

(*): calibrated test made with a specific flow resistance of 150µm inner diameter by 5cm length

(**): shear stress is for information only; based on the connection to 8 channels of a Vena8 Endothelial+ biochip (capillary of 800µm x 120µm)

Please Note: the Kima pump is not suitable for shear stressed based assays because the pump delivers liquid in pulses (not continuous flow).

Applications

• Cell culture of endothelial cell monolayers for shear flow experiments
• Cell-cell adhesion shear flow assays on endothelial cell monolayers with Cellix's Mirus Evo Nanopump or ExiGo pump for studies such as:
  • Cardiovascular / Atherosclerosis:  primary monocyte adhesion to coronary artery endothelial cells
  • Inflammation:  THP-1 monocyte adhesion to HUVECs under flow
  • Asthma / COPD: eosinophil adhesion studies to human lung microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-L)
  • Oncology - Breast Cancer:  MDA cells adhering to TNF-alpha stimulated HUVECs under shear flow

Kima Pump Videos

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