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Ref: 06486
3D Tissue Rapid Fabrication
Rapid Fabrication of Self-Assembled Multicellular 3D Tissue Constructs
A versatile technique to rapidly self-assemble cells and ECM material in a mold to form multicellular tissue constructs
About
Background: Spherical cellular aggregates (or multicellular spheroids) are useful as 3D in vitro models that mimic natural in vivo cellular microenvironment with proper cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions for applications such as drug screening. However, current fabrication techniques are typically very slow (i.e. requires several days) and limited to low cell numbers or density and/or only certain cell types. Technology Overview: A versatile technique has now been developed to rapidly self-assemble cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) material in a mold to form multicellular tissue constructs in a variety of non-spherical shapes, which retain that shape after removal from the mold and during long-term cell culture. The self-assembly process takes less than 6 h and allows for precise spatial patterning of physiologically relevant cell densities. The resulting mechanically robust 3D constructs may comprise a homogenous or heterogenous combination of several different cell types for use as 3D cell culture models in drug discovery as well as tissue grafts for implantation. Stage of Development: Proof of principle has been performed. #19-063
Key Benefits
• Simple and versatile method to rapidly self-assemble 3D multicellular constructs in 6 hours (as opposed to several days) using microfabricated molds of desired shape • 3D constructs retain a variety of shapes (e.g. spherical, cuboidal, and hollow-channel tubular) after removal from molds and during long-term cell culture • Allows heterogenous spatial positioning multiple cell types at their physiologically relevant cell densities to more accurately mimic in vivo cellular responses and interactions
Applications
• 3D cell culture models of disease (e.g. in drug discovery) • Tissue grafts and artificial organs for implantation