Microfluidic production of spatially structured biomimetic microgels as compartmentalized artificial cells
Author(s)
Allen, Matthew E
Hindley, James W
Law, Robert V
Ces, Oscar
Elani, Yuval
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Artificial cells serve as promising micro-robotic platforms that replicate cellular features. One ubiquitous characteristic of living cells is compartmentalization of content in distinct and well-defined locations. Herein, a microfluidic strategy to mimic compartmentalization is developed through the production of micron-scale two and three compartment biomimetic microgels, where hydrogel compartment number, composition, size, and shape can be controlled. Our lab-on-chip system enables the incorporation of various synthetic organelles into spatially separated compartments within the microgels. This design concept allows for the introduction of a variety of individually triggered bioinspired behaviors, including protein capture, enzyme-mediated content release, and stimuli-triggered motility, each isolated in a distinct compartment enabling the use of the microgels as compartmentalized artificial cells. With this approach, the division of content and function seen in biological cells can be mirrored, which will underpin the generation of increasingly sophisticated and functional soft matter microdevices using bottom-up synthetic biology principles.
Date Issued
2025-04-01
Date Acceptance
2025-02-01
Citation
Small Science, 2025, 5 (4)
ISSN
2688-4046
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Small Science
Volume
5
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Small Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
2400320
Date Publish Online
2025-02-06