Cell culture assays play an important role during the first stages of pharmaceutical development. The design of such in vitro models is significant and data resulting from such tests directly influences the progression of compound development. Therefore it is becoming progressively more important to design cell culture assays that are more representative of the behaviour of cells in living tissues. As a consequence, investigators are developing technology to enhance the cell culture environment and enable cells to grow in ways resembling their in vivo counterparts. This is particularly relevant to the design of culture models that enable three dimensional cell growth in vitro.

During the last decade, technical developments have dramatically changed the way cell-based assays could be implemented and used in research and development organisations. Although cell-based assays have moved into a modern era, cells are still grown and maintained in the same way as decades ago; i.e. manually. However, automation systems with the ability to grow and maintain cells have emerged, bringing us closer to the dream of fully automated cell culture.