Spatial patterning of cells is of great importance in tissue engineering and biotechnology, enabling, for example the creation of bottom-up histoarchitectures of heterogeneous cells, or cell aggregates for in vitro high-throughput toxicological and therapeutic studies within 3D microenvironments. In this paper, a single-step process for creating peelable and resilient hydrogels, encapsulating arrays of biological cell aggregates formed by negative DEP has been devised. The dielectrophoretic trapping within low-energy regions of the DEP-dot array reduces cell exposure to high field stresses while creating distinguishable, evenly spaced arrays of aggregates. In addition to using an optimal combination of PEG diacrylate pre-polymer solution concentration and a novel UV exposure mechanism, total processing time was reduced. With a continuous phase medium of PEG diacrylate at 15% v/v concentration, effective dielectrophoretic cell patterned arrays and photo-polymerisation of the mixture was achieved within a 4 min period. This unique single-step process was achieved using a 30 s UV exposure time frame within a dedicated, wide exposure area DEP light box system. To demonstrate the developed process, aggregates of yeast, human leukemic (K562) and HeLa cells were immobilised in an array format within the hydrogel. Relative cell viability for both cells within the hydrogels, after maintaining them in appropriate iso-osmotic media, over a week period was greater than 90%.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 23 February 2013.
All research outputs
#23,938,835
of 34,360,889 outputs
Outputs from Electrophoresis
#3,923
of 5,103 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#169,467
of 242,865 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Electrophoresis
#33
of 128 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,360,889 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 29th percentile – i.e., 29% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,103 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.4. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 128 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.
