Recent Advances in Microfluidic Platforms for Programming Cell‐Based Living Materials

Abstract

Cell‐based living materials, including single cells, cell‐laden fibers, cell sheets, organoids, and organs, have attracted intensive interests owing to their widespread applications in cancer therapy, regenerative medicine, drug development, and so on. Significant progress in materials, microfabrication, and cell biology have promoted the development of numerous promising microfluidic platforms for programming these cell‐based living materials with a high‐throughput, scalable, and efficient manner. In this review, the recent progress of novel microfluidic platforms for programming cell‐based living materials is presented. First, the unique features, categories, and materials and related fabrication methods of microfluidic platforms are briefly introduced. From the viewpoint of the design principles of the microfluidic platforms, the recent significant advances of programming single cells, cell‐laden fibers, cell sheets, organoids, and organs in turns are then highlighted. Last, by providing personal perspectives on challenges and future trends, this review aims to motivate researchers from the fields of materials and engineering to work together with biologists and physicians to promote the development of cell‐based living materials for human healthcare‐related applications.

An integrated microfluidics platform with high-throughput single-cell cloning array and concentration gradient generator for efficient cancer drug effect screening

“…Though we only demonstrated the application of screening anticancer drug effect by using the “SMART” microfluidic platform, we anticipate its wide use in single-cell based analysis. For example, it could be harnessed to profile the cytolytic activity of single T cells against the target cells in immunotherapy [ 9 , 42 ], since our device allows great control and efficient tracking of small primary cells. Furthermore, it is possible to extract the cells of interest for downstream analysis (e.g., single cell sequence) if combining some automatic instruments such as laser capture microdissection systems.…”

“…Microfluidics, particularly microfluidic chip technology, represents an attractive alternative for single cell studies [ 8 , 9 ]. The microscale channel or chamber inside the chips has similar dimensions to those of most cells, allowing excellent performance in single-cell manipulations and guaranteeing the precision of single-cell analysis [ 10 ].…”

Engineered Living Materials For Sustainability

“…Microfluidics approaches are designed to precisely control fluids for complex micromanipulations such as single-cell encapsulation and high-throughput screening for various applications, including DNA sequencing, drug synthesis, and directed evolution. − There are different microfluidic platforms (e.g., microchannel-based microfluidics, microchamber-based microfluidics, and droplet microfluidics). Droplet microfluidics allows the in situ encapsulation, incubation, and manipulation of living cells in semipermeable microcapsules or microbeads with uniform size distributions, and it has gained specific attention in materials engineering (Figure f) . For example, orally delivered microspheres produced by droplet microfluidics and embedded with intestinal microorganisms have been developed for kidney failure treatment .…”

Enhancement of Pressure‐Sensitive Adhesive by CO2 Laser Treatment

“…For example, it has been used for wearable and microfluidic devices, including stretchable sensors and actuators in soft and medical robotics. [ 7–14 ]…”

“…For example, it has been used for wearable and microfluidic devices, including stretchable sensors and actuators in soft and medical robotics. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] PSAs adhere to surfaces because of van der Waals (VdW) forces. Viscoelastic dissipation near the interface further enhances adhesion.…”