ReviewLab on a chip2026
From flow to form: structuring and patterning hydrogels using microfluidic approaches.
Review in Lab on a chip, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Curved by Design: Applying Microfluidic Principles for Nonplanar and Planar Suspended Tissue Patterning to the Development of Bladder Models with Tunable Mechanics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture can leverage the precise arrangement of materials, known as patterning, to generate physiologically relevant tissue-like structures. Hydrogels are widely used in 3D cell culture due to their ability to mimic the properties of biological extracellular matrix networks. In this tutorial review, we discuss the use of microfluidic systems to control fluid movement and placement within fabricated microchannels to pattern hydrogel precursors in 3D through the use of capillary flow. Such systems offer unique advantages in their ability to create complex biomimetic structures, organs-on-a-chip, and microphysiological systems with high spatial resolution and relatively small volumes of hydrogel material. We first discuss the fundamental principles behind capillary pinning and aspiration-mediated patterning. We then review literature describing the development and applications of three different types of microfluidic systems - closed, semi-open, and open - and describe how different patterning techniques are applied to each system. We also discuss modular microfluidic systems, in which multiple classes of microfluidic systems are combined together for complex and biomimetic modeling of biological systems. In each section, we provide synthesis and critical analysis of established and novel techniques to draw connections across diverse papers in literature. Finally, we offer our perspectives on the advantages of microfluidic systems for hydrogel patterning and the future of the field. Taken together, microfluidic flow-based patterning is an exciting tool for microphysiological systems and other 3D cell culture models that are poised to transform our understanding of basic biological mechanisms and provide new opportunities for studying diverse phenomena in physiologically relevant tissue models.
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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.