Directed Assembly and Development of Material-Free Tissues with Complex Architectures

Abstract

Material-free tissues are assembled using solely cells. Microstructured hydrogel templates and high content screening allow the formation of centimeter-scale tissues with precise architectures. Similar to developing tissues, these contract autonomously, controllably shift shape, self-scaffold by secreting extracellular matrix, and undergo morphogenesis.

Keywords: bottom-up tissue engineering; cellular building blocks; directed development; high-throughput screening; tissues.