Programmed assembly of bespoke prototissues on a microfluidic platform. Issue 23 (1st November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ramsay, Kaitlyn; Levy, Jae; Gobbo, Pierangelo; Elvira, Katherine S.
• Is Part Of: Lab on a chip. Volume 21:Issue 23(2021)
• Page Start: 4574
• Page End: 4585
• Publication Date: 2021-11-01
• Subjects: Miniature electronic equipment -- Periodicals; Combinatorial chemistry -- Periodicals; Biotechnology -- Periodicals; 543.0813
• DOI: 10.1039/d1lc00602a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1473-0197

Abstract

Abstract : A microfluidic platform to build bespoke prototissues with collective behaviours that depend on the chemical composition of the biomaterial. Abstract : The precise assembly of protocell building blocks into prototissues that are stable in water, capable of sensing the external environment and which display collective behaviours remains a considerable challenge in prototissue engineering. We have designed a microfluidic platform that enables us to build bespoke prototissues from predetermined compositions of two types of protein–polymer protocells. We can accurately control their size, composition and create unique Janus configurations in a way that is not possible with traditional methods. Because we can control the number and type of the protocells that compose the prototissue, we can hence modulate the collective behaviours of this biomaterial. We show control over both the amplitude of thermally induced contractions in the biomaterial and its collective endogenous biochemical reactivity. Our results show that microfluidic technologies enable a new route to the precise and high-throughput fabrication of tissue-like materials with programmable collective properties that can be tuned through careful assembly of protocell building blocks of different types. We anticipate that our bespoke prototissues will be a starting point for the development of more sophisticated artificial tissues for use in medicine, soft robotics, and environmentally beneficial bioreactor technologies.