Systems, apparatus and methods for controlling a movement of a cell culture to optimize cell growth

1. A method comprising:

providing a cell culture in need of cell growth optimization, the cell culture being provided in a cell culture container configured to grow cells;

generating an image of the cell culture;

determining a characteristic of the cell culture to facilitate cell growth optimization based on the image; and

adjusting a tilting motion of the cell culture container and a shaking motion of the cell culture container based on the characteristic to facilitate cell growth optimization.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from a sensor, motion data indicating a motion of the cell culture;

determining a first movement of the cell culture based on the motion data;

adjusting the motion of the cell culture by determining a second movement of the cell culture based on the characteristic, the second movement being different from the first movement.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic comprises a measure of cell density.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

using a camera to capture an image of the cell culture; and

analyzing the image data to determine the measure of cell density.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the measure of cell density comprises a second measure of average cell density.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the measure of cell density comprises determining a count of cell clusters.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining whether the measure of cell density exceeds a predetermined limit; and

adjusting a movement of the cell culture in response to determining that the measure of cell density exceeds the predetermined limit.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the measure of cell density comprises:

identifying one or more cell morphologies among cells in the cell culture; and

determining one or more second measures of cell densities based on the one or more cell morphologies.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cell culture container is disposed on a tray configured to receive the cell culture container and configured to tilt and shake the cell culture container.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:

adjusting the tilting motion of the cell culture container includes causing the cell culture container on the tray to tilt back and forth at one of a lower rate and a higher rate; and

adjusting the shaking motion of the cell culture container on the tray to shake back and forth at one of a lower rate and a higher rate.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a first device configured to:

hold a cell culture container containing a cell culture in need of cell growth optimization, the cell culture container being configured to grow cells; and

cause a movement of the cell culture container;

a second device configured to generate an image of the cell culture; and

at least one processor adapted to:

determine a characteristic of the cell culture to facilitate cell growth optimization based on the image; and

cause the first device to adjust a tilting motion of the cell culture container and a shaking motion of the cell culture container, based on the characteristic, to facilitate cell growth optimization.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the characteristic comprises a measure of cell density.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a measure of average cell density based on the image.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a count of cell clusters based on the image; and

determine the measure of cell density based on the count of cell clusters.

15. A system comprising:

a tray configured to hold a cell culture container containing a cell culture in need of cell growth optimization, the cell culture container being configured to grow cells;

a camera configured to capture an image of the cell culture;

a device configured to control a movement of the tray; and

a processor configured to:

determine a first movement of the tray;

receive from the camera data representing an image of the cell culture;

determine a characteristic of the cell culture to facilitate cell growth optimization based on the image data;

determine a second movement of the tray based on the characteristic, the second movement being different from the first movement; and

cause the device to cause the tray to move in accordance with the second movement to facilitate cell growth optimization.

16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:

a sensor configured to obtain motion data indicating a motion of the tray,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive the motion data from the sensor; and

determine the first movement of the tray based on the motion data.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the characteristic comprises a measure of cell density.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a second measure of average cell density based on the image data.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a count of cell clusters; and

determine the measure of cell density based on the count of cell clusters.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine that the measure of cell density exceeds a predetermined limit; and

determine the second movement in response to the determination that that the measure of cell density exceeds the predetermined limit.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

adjust one of a tilting motion of the tray and a shaking motion of the tray to determine the second movement of the tray.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform one of the following:

cause the tray to tilt back and forth at one of a lower rate and a higher rate; and

cause the tray to shake back and forth at one of a lower rate and a higher rate.