ArticleBiosensors2021
A Facile and Scalable Hydrogel Patterning Method for Microfluidic 3D Cell Culture and Spheroid-in-Gel Culture Array.
Article in Biosensors, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- From flow to form: structuring and patterning hydrogels using microfluidic approaches.Lab on a chip · 2026Review
- Beyond monolayers: a comparative analysis of 2D cell cultures and 3DFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Hydrogel array patterning using 3D-printed microfluidic inserts to control cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- From Spheroids to Tumor-on-a-Chip for Cancer Modeling and Therapeutic Testing.Micromachines · 2025Review
- Suspended Tissue Engineering with Assemblable Microfluidics (STEAM).bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Suspended Tissue Open Microfluidic Patterning (STOMP).Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Suspended Tissue Open Microfluidic Patterning (STOMP).bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Cancer-on-chip: a breakthrough organ-on-a-chip technology in cancer cell modeling.Medical & biological engineering & computing · 2025Review
- Analysis of the CPZ/Wnt4 osteogenic pathway for high-bonding-strength composite-coated magnesium scaffolds through transcriptomics.Materials today. Bio · 2024Article
- Open-Top Patterned Hydrogel-Laden 3D Glioma Cell Cultures for Creation of Dynamic Chemotactic Gradients to Direct Cell Migration.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2024Article
- Engineered 3D ex vivo models to recapitulate the complex stromal and immune interactions within the tumor microenvironment.Biomaterials · 2024Review
- Vat photopolymerization 3D printed microfluidic devices for organ-on-a-chip applications.Lab on a chip · 2023Review
- Nanofabrication Technologies to Control Cell and Tissue Function in Three-Dimension.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Review
- Recent Advances of Organ-on-a-Chip in Cancer Modeling Research.Biosensors · 2022Review
- A High-Throughput and Uniform Amplification Method for Cell Spheroids.Micromachines · 2022Article
- Generation of 3D Spheroids Using a Thiol-Acrylate Hydrogel Scaffold to Study Endocrine Response in ERACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2022Article
- Microfluidic harvesting of breast cancer tumor spheroid-derived extracellular vesicles from immobilized microgels for single-vesicle analysis.Lab on a chip · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Incorporation of extracellular matrix (ECM) and hydrogel in microfluidic 3D cell culture platforms is important to create a physiological microenvironment for cell morphogenesis and to establish 3D co-culture models by hydrogel compartmentalization. Here, we describe a simple and scalable ECM patterning method for microfluidic cell cultures by achieving hydrogel confinement due to the geometrical expansion of channel heights (stepped height features) and capillary burst valve (CBV) effects. We first demonstrate a sequential "pillar-free" hydrogel patterning to form adjacent hydrogel lanes in enclosed microfluidic devices, which can be further multiplexed with one to two stepped height features. Next, we developed a novel "spheroid-in-gel" culture device that integrates (1) an on-chip hanging drop spheroid culture and (2) a single "press-on" hydrogel confinement step for rapid ECM patterning in an open-channel microarray format. The initial formation of breast cancer (MCF-7) spheroids was achieved by hanging a drop culture on a patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. Single spheroids were then directly encapsulated on-chip in individual hydrogel islands at the same positions, thus, eliminating any manual spheroid handling and transferring steps. As a proof-of-concept to perform a spheroid co-culture, endothelial cell layer (HUVEC) was formed surrounding the spheroid-containing ECM region for drug testing studies. Overall, this developed stepped height-based hydrogel patterning method is simple to use in either enclosed microchannels or open surfaces and can be readily adapted for in-gel cultures of larger 3D cellular spheroids or microtissues.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.