Scale-down approaches have long been applied in bioprocessing to resolve scale-up problems. Miniaturized bioreactors have thrived as a tool to obtain process relevant data during early-stage process development. Microfluidic devices are an attractive alternative in bioprocessing development due to the high degree of control over process variables afforded by the laminar flow, and the possibility to reduce time and cost factors. Data quality obtained with these devices is high when integrated with sensing technology and is invaluable for scale-translation and to assess the economical viability of bioprocesses. Microfluidic devices as upstream process development tools have been developed in the area of small molecules, therapeutic proteins, and cellular therapies. More recently, they have also been applied to mimic downstream unit operations.

长期以来，按比例缩小方法已在生物加工中用于解决按比例放大问题。小型化的生物反应器已成为一种在早期工艺开发过程中获取与工艺相关的数据的工具。由于对层流提供的过程变量的高度控制以及减少时间和成本因素的可能性，微流体装置是生物加工开发中的一种有吸引力的替代方案。当与传感技术集成时，使用这些设备获得的数据质量很高，对于规模转换和评估生物过程的经济可行性而言，这是无价的。在小分子，治疗性蛋白质和细胞疗法领域，已经开发了作为上游工艺开发工具的微流体装置。最近，它们也已被用于模仿下游单元的操作。