Microfluidics as an Emerging Precision Tool in Developmental Biology

Sonnen, Katharina F.; Merten, Christoph A.

doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2019.01.015

Cited by 60 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 131 publications

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“…Microfluidics is a popular and now-a-days even routine technique for the precision manipulation of small volume of fluids. Since its development over three decades ago, [1] it has found many uses, including microanalysis, [2] point-of-care detection and diagnostics, [3] in vitro disease and tissue modeling, [4][5][6][7] and organic synthesis. [8,9] Droplet-based microfluidics, also Capillary-based microfluidics is a great technique to produce monodisperse and complex emulsions and particulate suspensions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capillary‐Based Microfluidics—Coflow, Flow‐Focusing, Electro‐Coflow, Drops, Jets, and Instabilities

Guerrero

Chang

Fragkopoulos

et al. 2019

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Capillary‐based microfluidics is a great technique to produce monodisperse and complex emulsions and particulate suspensions. In this review, the current understanding of drop and jet formation in capillary‐based microfluidic devices for two primary flow configurations, coflow and flow‐focusing is summarized. The experimental and theoretical description of fluid instabilities is discussed and conditions for controlled drop breakup in different modes of drop generation are provided. Current challenges in drop breakup with low interfacial tension systems and recent progress in overcoming drop size limitations using electro‐coflow are addressed. In each scenario, the physical mechanisms for drop breakup are revisited, and simple scaling arguments proposed in the literature are introduced.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capillary‐Based Microfluidics—Coflow, Flow‐Focusing, Electro‐Coflow, Drops, Jets, and Instabilities

Guerrero

Chang

Fragkopoulos

et al. 2019

Small

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“…A more recent advance in stem cell biology and 3D-tissue engineering is the innovative application of microfluidic techniques for the development of organ-on-a-chip platforms (OOC) (Figure 1). The rationale of the introduction of microfluidic in cell cultures is to reproduce the microenvironment of cells through the use of precise control on fluid flow, biochemical factors and mechanical forces [198]. The aim of OOCs is to reproduce in vitro functional units of organs by reproducing the essential elements that allow physiological functions [199].…”

Section: Ex Vivo Stem Cell-based Systems: Organs-on-a-chipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harnessing the Potential of Stem Cells for Disease Modeling: Progress and Promises

Argentati

Tortorella

Bazzucchi

et al. 2020

JPM

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Ex vivo cell/tissue-based models are an essential step in the workflow of pathophysiology studies, assay development, disease modeling, drug discovery, and development of personalized therapeutic strategies. For these purposes, both scientific and pharmaceutical research have adopted ex vivo stem cell models because of their better predictive power. As matter of a fact, the advancing in isolation and in vitro expansion protocols for culturing autologous human stem cells, and the standardization of methods for generating patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells has made feasible to generate and investigate human cellular disease models with even greater speed and efficiency. Furthermore, the potential of stem cells on generating more complex systems, such as scaffold-cell models, organoids, or organ-on-a-chip, allowed to overcome the limitations of the two-dimensional culture systems as well as to better mimic tissues structures and functions. Finally, the advent of genome-editing/gene therapy technologies had a great impact on the generation of more proficient stem cell-disease models and on establishing an effective therapeutic treatment. In this review, we discuss important breakthroughs of stem cell-based models highlighting current directions, advantages, and limitations and point out the need to combine experimental biology with computational tools able to describe complex biological systems and deliver results or predictions in the context of personalized medicine.Since their establishment, cell cultures have been proven to be the first and most powerful tool for the in vitro investigation of cell biology, from basic research to more complex translational approaches [6]. Classical two-dimensional (2D)-cultures usually consist of a unique type of cells (primary or continuous cultures) that grow in tissue culture polystyrene as adherent monolayers or in floating suspension, both in culture media that provide essential nutrients and growth factors. 2D-strategies are widely used to obtain a large number of cells, thus allowing the in vitro study of molecular mechanisms and development of metabolic assays [7-9]. However, due to their inability to recreate the in vivo complexity of the biological environment, they are not suitable for accurate disease modeling. These limitations have been overcome by the development of three-dimensional (3D)-cell cultures systems [10]. The rationale design of 3D-cell cultures is to harvest cells in microstructures that resemble tissues or organs shape and organization, thus allowing better cell-to-cell/cell-environment contacts and signaling crosstalk [11][12][13][14][15], essential events for tissues correct development and functioning [14,15]. The 3D-cell culture strategy is articulated in many different methods and techniques that can be grouped in scaffold-based or non-scaffold based platforms, each with particular advantages and disadvantages that make them useful for different applications [10,[16][17][18][19]. 3D-cell culture strategies are supported by the in silico...

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“…Furthermore, the efficiency of long-term stem cells culturing remains highly variable and there is limited space for tissue development, whilst increasing the channel dimensions and flow rates obliviate the key microfluidic advantage of laminar flow. 46,55 Moving forward, platforms integrating microfluidics and hydrogels promise comprehensive control over the biophysical and biochemical niche enabling more accurate modelling of early developmental events in 3D cultures to model embryogenesis. Hydrogels demonstrate a strong potential in tailoring the physicochemical properties of the extracellular matrix in space and time in order to enable in vitro modelling, while microfluidics provides sophisticated control over soluble cues.…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%