Suspended Tissue Engineering with Assemblable Microfluidics (STEAM)

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Tissue Engineering
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Tissue development relies on complex spatiotemporal mechanical and chemical cues.
• In vitro models require integrating spatial patterning with mechanical manipulation for accurate physiochemistry simulation.
• Existing microphysiological systems face challenges in replicating heterogeneous tissue environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce Suspended Tissue Engineering with Assemblable Microfluidics (STEAM), a modular platform for fabricating spatially heterogeneous suspended tissues.
• Enable precise control over tissue architecture and mechanical properties for in vitro modeling.
• Facilitate the study of cellular responses to combined spatial and mechanical cues.

Main Methods:

• Utilized microfluidic principles with capillary pinning features for controlled hydrogel precursor flow.
• Developed a modular fabrication platform allowing for multi-region and stacked tissue constructs.
• Implemented post-fabrication static stretching for mechanical manipulation and strain induction.
• Modified fluidic channel geometry to generate nonplanar suspended tissue architectures.

Main Results:

• Achieved spatially heterogeneous suspended tissue constructs with multiple defined regions.
• Demonstrated successful post-fabrication mechanical manipulation, inducing strain and myotube alignment in a muscle tissue model.
• Generated complex nonplanar suspended tissues by altering microfluidic channel geometry.
• STEAM tissues exhibited versatility, allowing easy transfer between experimental setups.

Conclusions:

• STEAM provides a versatile microfluidic-based platform for generating sophisticated suspended tissues.
• The platform integrates patterning precision, mechanical functionality, and experimental flexibility.
• STEAM facilitates modeling of tissue behavior influenced by the interplay of spatial organization and mechanical forces.