Extracellular scaffold design for ultra-soft microtissue engineering

Abstract

Soft and ultra-soft extracellular scaffolds constitute a major fraction of most human internal organs, except for the skeletal system. Modelling these organs in vitro requires a comprehensive understanding of their native scaffolding materials and proper engineering approaches to manufacture tissue architectures with microscale precision. This review focuses on the properties of soft and ultra-soft scaffolds, including their interactions with cells, mechanical properties (e.g. viscoelasticity), and existing microtissue engineering techniques. It also summarises challenges presented by the conflict between the properties of the materials demanded by cell behaviours and the capacities of engineering techniques. It proposes that leveraging the engineering ability of soft and ultra-soft scaffolds will promote therapeutic advances and regenerative medicine.