Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41551773›Full record

ArticleBioactive materials2026

Ribbon-shaped microgels as bioinks for 3D bioprinting of anisotropic tissue structures.

Hung Pang Lee, Michelle Tai, Sarah J Jones, Xinming Tong, Sungwon Kim, Michelle M T Jansman, Tony Tam, Jianyi Du, Mark A Skylar-Scott, Fan Yang

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Bioactive materials, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Hung Pang LeeDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Michelle TaiDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Sarah J JonesDepartment of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Xinming TongDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Sungwon KimDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Michelle M T JansmanDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Tony TamDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Jianyi DuDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Mark A Skylar-ScottDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Fan YangDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.

Funding

Microribbon scaffold-mediated Immunomodulation for Cranial Bone RepairR01DE024772 · NIDCR · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI YANG, FAN · 2015 to 2025
$4.6M
Sliding hydrogels for accelerating cartilage regenerationR01AR074502 · NIAMS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI YANG, FAN · 2019 to 2023
$2.2M
Cell membrane-coated macroporous scaffolds for enhancing bone regeneration in agingR01AI180049 · NIAID · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI Fan Yang · 2024 to 2026
$1.9M
Hydrogels with Tunable Stress Relaxation and Mobility for Enhancing Articular Cartilage RegenerationF31AR083254 · NIAMS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI SARAH JANE JONES · 2023 to 2026
$135k
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI180049NIAMS NIH HHS F31 AR083254NIAMS NIH HHS R01 AR074502NIDCR NIH HHS R01 DE024772
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Granular microgels are attractive bioinks for bioprinting due to their injectability, printability, modularity, and enhanced macroporosity compared to conventional nanoporous hydrogels. Despite the potential of microgels for bioprinting, most previous work has relied on spherical microgels and produced isotropic tissues, whereas many native tissues are inherently anisotropic. While emerging studies have explored non-spherical microgels for bioprinting, there remains a need for bioinks that support cell alignment and tunable niche cues. Microribbons (μRB) are anisotropic ribbon-shaped microgels, but the potential of μRBs as bioinks for printing 3D anisotropic tissues remains unexplored. Here, we report the development of μRBs with tunable stiffness as bioinks for extrusion-based bioprinting and demonstrate that μRB bioinks maintain excellent printability and align during extrusion. μRB bioinks support alignment of MSCs and endothelial cells, with greater alignment as μRB stiffness increases. Increasing μRB stiffness also accelerates mesenchymal stromal cell osteogenesis in 3D. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of μRB bioinks for modeling breast cancer-bone metastasis, which features spatial patterning of multiple cell types to model cancer cell invasion at the tissue interface. Together, these results establish ribbon-shaped microgels as a new class of anisotropic bioinks, offering a versatile platform to support a broad range of bioprinting applications.

Indexed as

3D bioprintingAlignmentAnisotropicCancer invasionDifferentiationMicrogelsRibbon-shape

Identifiers

PMID41551773
PMCPMC12810552

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.