Stop-flow lithography to generate cell-laden microgel particles.
June 29th, 2008 | by admin |Stop-flow lithography to generate cell-laden microgel particles.
Encapsulating cells within hydrogels is important for generating three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs for drug delivery and tissue engineering. This paper describes, for the first time, the fabrication of large numbers of cell-laden microgel particles using a continuous microfluidic process called stop-flow lithography (SFL). Prepolymer solution containing cells was flowed through a microfluidic device and arrays of individual particles were repeatedly defined using pulses of UV light through a transparency mask. Unlike photolithography, SFL can be used to synthesize microgel particles continuously while maintaining control over particle size, shape and anisotropy. Therefore, SFL may become a useful tool for generating cell-laden microgels for various biomedical applications.
Panda P, Ali S, Lo E, Chung BG, Hatton TA, Khademhosseini A, Doyle PS.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. pdoyle@mit.edu.