Patterning Biological Gels for 3D Cell Culture inside Microfluidic Devices by Local Surface Modification through Laminar Flow Patterning.

ABSTRACT: Microfluidic devices are used extensively in the development of new in vitro cell culture models like organs-on-chips. A typical feature of such devices is the patterning of biological hydrogels to offer cultured cells and tissues a controlled three-dimensional microenvironment. A key challenge of hydrogel patterning is ensuring geometrical confinement of the gel, which is generally solved by inclusion of micropillars or phaseguides in the channels. Both of these methods often require costly cleanroom fabrication, which needs to be repeated even when only small changes need be made to the gel geometry, and inadvertently expose cultured cells to non-physiological and mechanically stiff structures. Here, we present a technique for facile patterning of hydrogel geometries in microfluidic chip

SUBMITTER: Loessberg-Zahl J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7765499 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature