Three-Dimensional Microassembly of Cell-Laden Microplates by in situ Gluing with Photocurable Hydrogels

Abstract

This paper describes a method for assembling cellladen microplates into three-dimensional (3D) microstructures by in situ gluing using photocurable hydrogels. We picked up cell-laden microplates with microtweezers, placed the plate perpendicular to one another on a microgroove device, and glued them by local photopolymerization of biocompatible Poly (Ethylene Glycol) (PEG) hydrogels. The advantage of this assembly method is its ability to construct 3D biological microstructures with targeted cells. We demonstrated the assembly of a 3D half-cube microstructure with genetically labeled cell-laden microplates. We believe our method is useful for engineering the positions of cells in 3D configurations for cell-cell interaction analysis and tissue engineering.