Guiding cell migration via laser photografting – Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration

Hydrogels with properties similar to tissue are often used to construct artificial tissue. They are, by themselves, homogenous materials, thus making it challenging to direct cells to form sophisticated sub-structures within the material. Scientists from TU Vienna, together with LBI Trauma and Ghent University, Belgium, have developed a novel method to direct cell alignment, migration and endothelial sprouting in a gelatin-based hydrogel. The study has recently been published in Scientific Reports by Nature.

The scientists were able to observe the preferential orientation of human adipose-derived stem cells and study their directional migration in a co-culture model with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Subsequently, they highlighted the dependence of endothelial sprouting on the presence of adipose-derived stem cells and demonstrated the potential of photografting to control the direction of the sprouts.

Full article: Guiding cell migration in 3D with high-resolution photografting