Scaffold-free 3D Cell Assembly based on patterned Hydrodynamic Drag Force

摘要

A method of making a multi-layer patterned cell assembly is provided. A cell suspension liquid solution containing cells is loaded into a liquid-carrier chamber. The cells in the cell suspension liquid solution are let to settle down to the bottom of the chamber. Once the cells in the cell suspension liquid solution have gravitationally settled down to the bottom of the chamber, a hydrodynamic drag force is applied by using a vibration generator with a frequency and acceleration to the cells at the bottom of the chamber. The frequency and acceleration are designed to drag the settled cells into a three-dimensional pattern to form a multi-layer three-dimensional patterned cell assembly. The formed multi-layer three- dimensional patterned cell assembly can be transferred from the liquid-carrier chamber to an incubator to form a tissue culture. The bioengineered construct can be implanted for tissue engineering or other medical applications.