Spheroid and Tissue Assembly via Click Chemistry in Microfluidic Flow

Abstract

Proper cell-cell contact and communication are essential for the correct development and survival of higher order organisms. In order to study complex cell interactions that occur in vivo, model systems that are able to recapitulate 3D cell-cell interactions in vitro are key to advancing new biotechnologies, therapeutics, and tissue engineering applications. Herein, we show a new strategy to rapidly and efficiently generate complex multiple cell line containing spheroids and tissues in microfluidic flow without the use of scaffolds, molecular biology, or metabolic biosynthesis. The method relies on the integration of microfluidics, liposome fusion, bio-orthogonal chemistry, and cell surface engineering to rapidly click coculture cell assemblies in flow. We demonstrate this strategy by assembling various combinations of cell types with an interfacial cell to cell click chemistry in microfluidic flow to generate a range of spheroid types and oriented tissue multilayers.