Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Rui-Chian Tang, Lily Shang, Philip O. Scumpia, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: Researchers have developed a novel crescent-shaped hydrogel scaffold with a microporous structure that allows for improved cell infiltration and expansion. With the use of microfluidic fabrication, the size of the cavities in the scaffold can be adjusted, leading to enhanced cellular network formation in vitro and in vivo. The results suggest that this new scaffold has the potential for superior functionality in tissue engineering applications.
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhenyu Zhao, Zhen Wang, Gen Li, Zhengwei Cai, Jiezhou Wu, Lei Wang, Lianfu Deng, Ming Cai, Wenguo Cui
Summary: Microfluidic hydrogel microspheres have been widely studied and used in various industries, with a focus on their applications in the medical field for controlled delivery of cells and drugs. These materials enable efficient encapsulation and control of functionalities, promoting collaboration across disciplines and advancing precision medicine and applied materials.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Zhaowei Yin, Chaoren Qin, Shaowei Pan, Chen Shi, Guanfu Wu, Yan Feng, Jing Zhang, Ziyi Yu, Bin Liang, Jianchao Gui
Summary: This study compared the therapeutic effects of exosomes derived from different sources of stem cells in osteoarthritis (OA) treatment. The results showed that exosomes derived from infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) stem cells had a significantly stronger inhibitory effect on the degradation of cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) compared to those derived from subcutaneous adipose tissue (ScAT) stem cells. Furthermore, microRNA sequencing revealed differences in microRNA expression between the two types of exosomes, and overexpression of a specific microRNA in ScAT-derived exosomes demonstrated efficacy in inhibiting the expression of ADAMTS4, promoting ECM repair in OA. Additionally, a hyaluronan-based hydrogel microparticles (HMPs) encapsulating exosomes were fabricated using microfluidic technology, and their injectability, sustained release, and long-term therapeutic effects on OA were validated.
MATERIALS TODAY BIO
(2023)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Saba Salehi, Seyed Morteza Naghib, Hamid Reza Garshasbi, Sadegh Ghorbanzadeh, Wei Zhang
Summary: Hydrogels are widely used biomaterials for therapeutic agent delivery and tissue engineering due to their biocompatibility and similarity to natural body tissues. Some substances have injectable properties, allowing for minimally invasive administration. Gelation can be induced by stimuli, making the material stimuli-responsive. This article introduces various stimuli for gelation and investigates the mechanisms of solution-to-gel transformation, while also studying special structures such as nano gels or nanocomposite gels.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jurga Jersovaite, Ugne Sarachovaite, Ieva Matulaitiene, Gediminas Niaura, Daiva Baltriukiene, Mangirdas Malinauskas
Summary: Providing a 3D environment that mimics the native extracellular matrix is becoming increasingly important for various applications. Stereolithography based on photopolymerization is an emerging technique to create volumetric structures from liquid resin. However, the biocompatibility of the scaffold is an important parameter that is currently underestimated.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Ziba Naghizadeh, Akbar Karkhaneh, Hanieh Nokhbatolfoghahaei, Saeed Farzad-Mohajeri, Maryam Rezai-Rad, Mohammad M. Dehghan, Pouyan Aminishakib, Arash Khojasteh
Summary: An injectable hydrogel/microparticle system containing melatonin and methylprednisolone was developed for chondrogenesis in vitro and in vivo. The system showed promising results in promoting cartilage regeneration, with improved properties and gene expression when loaded with cells. Overall, the study demonstrated the potential of the developed system for cartilage regeneration.
JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Francisca Villanueva-Flores, Igor Garcia-Atutxa, Arturo Santos, Juan Armendariz-Borunda
Summary: Neural tissue engineering is a promising technological breakthrough in restoring brain function. However, the development of implantable scaffolds for neural culture that meet all necessary criteria is a remarkable challenge for material science.
Article
Polymer Science
Ryota Goto, Masaki Nakahata, Shinji Sakai
Summary: In this study, a hydrogel made from phenol-grafted alginate sulfate was developed as a carrier for the delivery of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2). The hydrogel showed affinity for FGF-2 and promoted angiogenesis without cytotoxicity, making it a suitable candidate for FGF-2 delivery.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Shuai Deng, Xiaoyu Zhao, Yanlun Zhu, Ning Tang, Rongliang Wang, Xuerao Zhang, Fuyang Qu, Yi-Ping Ho, Wayne Yuk-Wai Lee, Jiansu Chen, Mingqiang Li, Yu Tao, Hon Fai Chan
Summary: Liver tissue engineering is advanced through the fabrication of collagen type I microspheres, enabling efficient hepatic differentiation of stem cells and assembly of prevascularized liver tissue. The microspheres exhibit high uniformity and can self-assemble with endothelial cells to form high cell-packing density liver tissue. This technology has potential applications in regenerative medicine, drug screening, and in vitro liver modeling.
Review
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Yubing Xie, Sujith Chander Reddy Kollampally, Matthew Jorgensen, Xulang Zhang
Summary: Alginate, a naturally occurring polysaccharide, is widely used in various fields such as cell encapsulation, cell therapy, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine due to its biocompatibility and ability to form hydrogel. Alginate hydrogel microfibers have gained increasing attention in the past 15 years for their thin tubular structures, high-density cell growth, handleability, and scalability. This review article provides an overview of alginate and its hydrogel microfibers, discussing their applications in 3D cell culture, cell delivery, and tissue engineering, and suggesting future directions for advanced technology development.
EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Mohammad Samiei, Marziyeh Fathi, Jaleh Barar, Nazanin Fathi, Nazanin Amiryaghoubi, Yadollah Omidi
Summary: Regenerative medicine is a promising and rapidly growing field that aims to develop new functional tissues to treat defective cells/tissues and achieve precision medicine. To achieve optimal clinical outcomes, efficient and safe delivery of cell-based medicines to damaged areas is essential.
JOURNAL OF DRUG DELIVERY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Ting Su, Mengying Zhang, Qiankun Zeng, Wenhao Pan, Yijing Huang, Yuna Qian, Wei Dong, Xiaoliang Qi, Jianliang Shen
Summary: The study focused on the facile fabrication and optimization of agarose-polydopamine hydrogel (APG) scaffolds for skin wound healing, showing improved mechanical properties and cell adhesiveness with the addition of polydopamine. The highest polydopamine content scaffold promoted full-thickness skin defect healing by accelerating collagen deposition and promoting angiogenesis, demonstrating clinical translation potentials.
BIOACTIVE MATERIALS
(2021)
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Wen Xue, Wen Shi, Yunfan Kong, Mitchell Kuss, Bin Duan
Summary: Using tissue engineering as an alternative approach, scaffolds with anisotropic structures play a crucial role in guiding neural outgrowth and reconnection for long-gap peripheral nerve and spinal cord injuries. Recent advances in fabrication techniques, such as anisotropic surface patterns and 3D hydrogel scaffolds, show promising in vitro and in vivo effects in orienting axonal and glial cell growth. Challenges and prospects of anisotropic architectures in tissue engineering are also discussed.
BIOACTIVE MATERIALS
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Mithun Rajendra Dethe, A. Prabakaran, Hafiz Ahmed, Mukta Agrawal, Upal Roy, Amit Alexander
Summary: Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have been extensively studied in biomedical applications due to their biodegradability and biocompatibility. The emergence of in situ stimuli-responsive hydrogels is the result of advancements in synthetic chemistry and materials science. The copolymer PCL-PEG, recognized by the FDA, can form thermosensitive injectable hydrogels that exhibit rapid and reversible gelation behavior.
JOURNAL OF CONTROLLED RELEASE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Xinlin Jia, Junping Ma, Xuzhuo Chen, Wentao Li, Xianhao Zhou, Bo Lei, Xin Zhao, Yuanqing Mao
Summary: Current treatments of osteoarthritis only provide temporary relief from pain and have limited impact on disease progression. This study presents a strategy using FPSOH matrixgel to treat osteoarthritis, which shows robust anti-inflammatory activity and prevents disease progression by inhibiting oxidative stress and inducing M2 polarization of macrophages.
MATERIALS TODAY BIO
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Ghulam Destgeer, Mengxing Ouyang, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: Researchers have developed a method to manufacture concentric amphiphilic particles using 3D printing and UV exposure, allowing precise control over particle size and shape for biological entity analysis. This technology enables a wide range of droplet volumes and can increase seeding density and orientation of dropicles for imaging and analysis purposes.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sohyung Lee, Joseph de Rutte, Robert Dimatteo, Doyeon Koo, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: Researchers have developed a scalable method for manufacturing hydrogel microparticles with defined shapes and chemical functionalization. The process involves using a two-phase system and microfluidic technology, and allows for localized surface chemistry on the microparticles. These microparticles can be used for cell loading and single-cell secretion analysis.
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Kyung Ha, Joseph de Rutte, Dino Di Carlo, Andrea L. Bertozzi
Summary: This paper introduces a new method to create templated droplets using amphiphilic microparticles and presents a mathematical model to explain the key properties of droplet formation.
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS
(2022)
Letter
Biochemical Research Methods
Maik Herbig, Akihiro Isozaki, Dino Di Carlo, Jochen Guck, Nao Nitta, Robert Damoiseaux, Shogo Kamikawaji, Eigo Suyama, Hirofumi Shintaku, Angela Ruohao Wu, Itoshi Nikaido, Keisuke Goda
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Haisong Lin, Wenzhuo Yu, Kiarash A. Sabet, Michael Bogumil, Yichao Zhao, Jacob Hambalek, Shuyu Lin, Sukantha Chandrasekaran, Omai Garner, Dino Di Carlo, Sam Emaminejad
Summary: This study presents a swarm of millimeter-sized magnet robots ('ferrobots') that can handle magnetized sample droplets and deliver nucleic acid amplification tests with precision and reliability. The automated platform demonstrated laboratory-equivalent operations for pooled testing, maximizing testing efficiency. Applied for SARS-CoV-2 virus detection, the results matched those obtained off-chip. The technology is easily manufacturable and distributable, potentially reducing reagent costs and instrumentation cost, making it a promising solution to expand global testing capacity.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Matteo Antognoli, Laura Donato, Chiara Galletti, Daniel Stoecklein, Dino Di Carlo, Elisabetta Brunazzi
Summary: Microfluidic reactors enable precise control of fluid and operating conditions for continuous chemical reactions. Adding cylindrical obstacles (pillars) in the mixing channel is an effective strategy to enhance reagent mixing. Optimized sequences of pillars have been found to significantly improve mixing of single-phase fluids. However, further investigations are needed to understand the efficiency and robustness in mixing fluids with different properties.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Matt G. Sorrells, Yurim Seo, Melia Magnen, Bliss Broussard, Roya Sheybani, Ajay M. Shah, Hollis R. O'Neal, Henry T. K. Tse Jr, Mark R. Looney, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: This study examined the correlation between the measurements performed using the IntelliSep test and biological markers and processes associated with sepsis. The results showed a linear correlation between the IntelliSep Index (ISI) scores and the quantities of neutrophil DNA and citrullinated histone DNA, indicating that the IntelliSep test may indicate changes consistent with sepsis.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Konstantinos Kechagidis, Benjamin Owen, Lionel Guillou, Henry Tse, Dino Di Carlo, Timm Kruger
Summary: The study investigates the dynamics of a rigid spherical particle in a microfluidic cross-slot junction. The entry position and size of the particle are found to strongly affect its dynamics and trajectory shape. Larger particles tend to have longer residence times and oscillate less due to their confinement. The findings contribute to the understanding of particle dynamics in intersecting flows and have implications for the design of optimized geometries for cytometry and particle manipulation.
MICROSYSTEMS & NANOENGINEERING
(2023)
Editorial Material
Engineering, Biomedical
Dino Di Carlo
Summary: Malignant cells in tissue biopsies can be efficiently characterized using deformability cytometry after being singularized and suspended using a tissue grinder.
NATURE BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Shreya Udani, Justin Langerman, Doyeon Koo, Sevana Baghdasarian, Brian Cheng, Simran Kang, Citradewi Soemardy, Joseph de Rutte, Kathrin Plath, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: By developing secretion-encoded single-cell sequencing (SEC-seq) method, the authors simultaneously measured the secretion and transcriptome for thousands of cells, and found heterogeneity in the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) within the cell population, which is poorly correlated with the VEGFA transcript level. Enrichment of a specific cell subpopulation characterized by a unique gene expression signature enabled the identification of gene signatures linked to specific secretory states. SEC-seq facilitates mechanistic studies and the development of means to modulate cellular secretion.
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Mehmet Akif Sahin, Helen Werner, Shreya Udani, Dino Di Carlo, Ghulam Destgeer
Summary: This article reviews the state-of-the-art particle manufacturing technologies based on flow-assisted photolithography in microfluidic channels. It discusses important physicochemical concepts and categorizes particles based on their structural and compositional complexity. The article highlights the advantages of different techniques and explores the potential applications of fabricated particles. It also provides a future perspective on improving particle fabrication throughput, achieving new particle shapes, automated particle measurement, and expanding the application of 'lab on a particle' technologies to other research areas.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Robert Dimatteo, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: This study presents a workflow for rapid screening and sorting of individual T cells based on the accumulation of IL-2 secretion in nanoliter droplets encoded back onto the secreting cell's surface. By partitioning cells using droplets and eliminating diffusive crosstalk, this method enables rapid accumulation of signals onto cell surfaces, allowing for high-throughput sorting.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Matteo Antognoli, Daniel Stoecklein, Chiara Galletti, Elisabetta Brunazzi, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: This study optimized mixing efficiency by analyzing sequences of cylindrical obstacles in the inertial regime, predicted and optimized interfacial stretching of co-flowing fluids using a specialized software, and tested new passive mixer designs using confocal microscopy and CFD simulations, achieving mixing efficiencies around 80%.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Yilian Wang, Vishwesh Shah, Angela Lu, Ella Pachler, Brian Cheng, Dino Di Carlo
Summary: A lab-on-a-particle solution for digital counting of enzymatic reactions using hydrogel particles was proposed, allowing for high-throughput compartmentalization of reactions with simple pipetting steps. This approach significantly amplifies the sensitivity of detection and reduces the need for specialized equipment and instruments.
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Ryan Shijie Du, Lily Liu, Simon Ng, Sneha Sambandam, Bernardo Hernandez Adame, Hansell Perez, Kyung Ha, Claudia Falcon, Joseph de Rutte, Dino Di Carlo, Andrea L. Bertozzi
Summary: This study discusses the design and application of Drop-carrier particles (DCPs) in biological assays and reactions. It presents a theoretical prediction for volume distribution by minimizing surface energy and develops a probabilistic pairwise interaction model to achieve uniform volume distribution with fewer interactions required. Optimizing the geometry of DCPs leads to minimal required target solution and uniformity in droplet volume.