Simultaneous generation of chemical concentration and mechanical shear stress gradients using microfluidic osmotic...

Cells are very sensitive to various microenvironmental cues, including mechanical stress and chemical gradients. Therefore, physiologically relevant models of cells should consider how cells sense and respond to microenvironmental cues. This can be accomplished by using microfluidic systems, in which fluid physics can be realized at a nanoliter scale. Here we describe a simple and versatile method to study the generation of chemical concentration and mechanical shear stress gradients in a single microfluidic chip. Our system uses an osmotic pump that produces very slow (