INTRO SENTENCE:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Bioengineering have developed novel methods to construct modular hydrogels with orthogonal porosity and stiffness.
BACKGROUND:
Hydrogels are an important platform for mimicking extracellular matrix environments in many tissue engineering applications. However, the existing bulk hydrogels typically feature linked porosity and stiffness properties. This relationship ultimately prevents the construction of cell-compatible hydrogels with large pore sizes and high stiffness that are required for the hard tissue (bone and muscle) engineering applications.
INNOVATION:
UCLA researchers have developed a microfluidic strategy to build novel hydrogel systems that feature decoupled porosity and stiffness, based on an orthogonal physical and photochemical dual crosslinking of macromolecules. The resulting hydrogels exhibit large pore sizes and high stiffness, which lead to improved cell compatibility (adhesion, viability, and proliferation) compared to bulk hydrogels.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
• 3D cell culture
• Hard tissue engineering
ADVANTAGES:
• Orthogonal porosity and stiffness
• No chemical crosslinking step
• Lower fabrication cost
• Enhanced cell adhesion, viability, and proliferation
DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE:
This invention has been developed and tested in 3D cell culture.