Freely suspended cellular "backpacks" lead to cell aggregate self-assembly
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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Manipulating Living Cells to Construct Stable 3D Cellular Assembly Without Artificial Scaffold
Published on: October 26, 2018
Albert J Swiston1, Jonathan B Gilbert, Darrell J Irvine
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Abstract:
Cellular "backpacks" are a new type of anisotropic, nanoscale thickness microparticle that may be attached to the surface of living cells creating a "bio-hybrid" material. Previous work has shown that these backpacks do not impair cell viability or native functions such as migration in a B and T cell line, respectively. In the current work, we show that backpacks, when added to a cell suspension, assemble cells into aggregates of reproducible size. We investigate the efficiency of backpack-cell binding using flow cytometry and laser diffraction, examine the influence of backpack diameter on aggregate size, and show that even when cell-backpack complexes are forced through small pores, backpacks are not removed from the surfaces of cells.
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