Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SB6-O032 Invited Talk
DYNAMIC PHOTOPOLYMERIZATION BY PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
YIELDS COMPLEX MICROSTRUCTURES ON HYDROGELS FOR A 3D
INTESTINAL TISSUE MODEL IN A SIMPLE FABRICATION PROCESS
Elena Martinez 1
1 Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Biomimetic systems for cell engineering,
Spain.
Epithelial tissues contai three-dimensional (3D) complex microtopographies that
are essential for their correct performance. Such microstructures provide epithelial
cells with physicochemical cues needed to lead their self-organization in tissue
functional structures. However, the majority of in vitro cel culture systems do not
routinely implement these 3D architectural features. The main problem is the
availability of simple fabrication techniques able to reproduce the complex
geometries found in native tissues on the soft polymeric materials used as cell
culture substrates. Here, we introduce a dynamic photopolymerization process that
yields 3D microstructures with complex geometries on soft hydrogels in a single
polymerization step. To this end, we take advantage of top-down photolithography
and dynamic reaction-diffusion processes that govern the free radical
polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogels. By controlling fabrication
parameters such as the oxygen diffusion/depletion timescales, the distance to
polymer ligth source and the exposure dose, the dimensions and geometry of the
microstructures can be well-defined in a single fabrication step. In addition, copolymerization
of poly(ethylene glycol) with acrylic acid allows tuning the density of
cell adhesive ligands while preserving the soft mechanical properties. We
demonstrate that this method is a simple, single-step and cost-effective strategy to
produce biomimetic models of intestinal epithelium that can be easily integrated in
standard cell culture platforms
Acknowledgment:
Funding for this project was provided by the European Unions Horizon 2020 ERC
grant agreement numbr 647863 (COMIET). This work reflects only the authors
view and the Comission is not responsible for any use that may be made the
information that it contains.
Keywords: microeengineering, hydrogel, microfabrication
Presenting authors email: emartinez@ibecbarcelona.eu