Summary
Published in Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods (2018), this peer-reviewed study used 3D Petri Dish® micro-molds to form scaffold-free 3D microtissues. Full citation: Manning, Kali L., et al. Funnel-Guided Positioning of Multicellular Microtissues to Build Macrotissues
Funnel-Guided Positioning of Multicellular Microtissues to Build Macrotissues
Research Overview
Additive manufacturing for living tissue needs a way to place multicellular parts precisely without touching them. This study introduced the funnel-guide, a noncontact strategy for manipulating and positioning microtissues, and used it to build macrotissues layer by layer.
Agarose micro-molds self-assembled cells into toroid- and honeycomb-shaped microtissues, which — when dropped through culture medium — spontaneously righted themselves to a horizontal orientation. A fabricated funnel guided these falling parts into precise positions and stacked them, turning a physical property of the parts into an assembly mechanism.
Key Discoveries
- Funnel-guide enables noncontact positioning and stacking of multicellular microtissues
- Toroid and honeycomb microtissues self-righted to horizontal while falling in medium
- Layer-by-layer stacking assembled larger macrotissues from molded parts
