Rapid Assembly of Heterogeneous 3D Cell Microenvironments in a Microgel Array

Yiwei Li; Pu Chen; Yachao Wang; Shuangqian Yan; Xiaojun Feng; Wei Du; Stephan A Koehler; Utkan Demirci; Bi-Feng Liu

doi:10.1002/adma.201600247

Rapid Assembly of Heterogeneous 3D Cell Microenvironments in a Microgel Array

Adv Mater. 2016 May;28(18):3543-8. doi: 10.1002/adma.201600247. Epub 2016 Mar 17.

Authors

Yiwei Li^{1

2}, Pu Chen³, Yachao Wang¹, Shuangqian Yan¹, Xiaojun Feng¹, Wei Du¹, Stephan A Koehler², Utkan Demirci³, Bi-Feng Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics - Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Systems Biology Theme, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, P. R. China.
² Department of Applied Physics, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
³ Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA.

PMID: 26991071
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201600247

Abstract

Heterogeneous 3D cell microenvironment arrays are rapidly assembled by combining surface-wettability-guided assembly and microdroplet-array-based operations. This approach enables precise control over individual shapes, sizes, chemical concentrations, cell density, and 3D spatial distribution of multiple components. This technique provides a cost-effective solution to meet the increasing demand of stem cell research, tissue engineering, and drug screening.

Keywords: cell microenvironment; heterogeneous microenvironment arrays; microgel assembly; tissue engineering.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cellular Microenvironment*
Tissue Engineering