%A TA Wyrobnik %A A Ducci %A M Micheletti %K Mesenchymal stromal cell bioprocessing, Impeller design, Stirred-tank bioreactors, Cell therapy process development %D 2020 %X Recent advances of stem cell-based therapies in clinical trials have raised the need for large-scale manufacturing platforms that can supply clinically relevant doses to meet an increasing demand. Promising results have been reported using stirred-tank bioreactors, where human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (hMSCs) were cultured in suspension on microcarriers (MCs), although the formation of microcarrier-cell-aggregates might still limit mass transfer and determine a heterogeneous distribution of hMSCs. A variety of MCs, bioreactor-impeller configurations, and agitation conditions have been established in an attempt to overcome the trade-off of ensuring good suspension while keeping the stresses to a minimum. While understanding and controlling the fluid flow environment of bioreactors has been initially under-appreciated, it has recently gained in popularity in the mission of providing ideal culture environments across different scales. This review article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how rigorous engineering characterisation studies improved the outcome of biological process development and scale-up efforts. Reconciling these two disciplines is crucial to propose tailored bioprocessing solutions that can provide improved growth environments across a range of scales for the allogeneic cell therapies of the future. %T Advances in human mesenchymal stromal cell-based therapies – Towards an integrated biological and engineering approach %O © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) %J Stem Cell Research %L discovery10106460 %V 47