We acknowledge financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CHRPJ 323533-06), the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program to CM, and the Canada Research Chairs in Micro and Nano Engineering Systems to YS, and in Mechanobiology to CAS.

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No conflicts of interest declared.

Though conceptually simple, device fabrication does take some experimental skill and practice. Particularly in the case of 2D cell culture, alignment of the multiple layers in the device can be challenging, especially over a large-area array. Practically speaking, we can reliably achieve a 100% alignment success rate using devices with 50 &mu;m of tolerance in spacing between adjacent features in multiple layers. We have also successfully demonstrated alignment with tolerances as low as 15 &mu;m, but the alignment tim...

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		<div>
		<table border="1">
		<thead>
		<tr>
		<th>Material Name</th>
		<th>Type</th>
		<th>Company</th>
		<th>Catalogue Number</th>
		<th>Comment</th>
		</tr>
		</thead>
		<tbody>
		
<tr>
<td>Sylgard 184 PDMS Monomer and Crosslinker Kit</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Dow Corning</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>SU-8 masters</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Silanization agent: (tridecafluoro-1, 1, 2, 2-tetrahydrooctyl)-1-trichlorosilane</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>United Chemical Technologies</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Foam pads</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Craft supply stores, 1-2 mm thick</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Overhead inkjet transparencies</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Grand &amp; Toy</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Plexiglass plates</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>C-clamp</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>hardware store</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Micromanipulator system</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Siskiyou</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Custom-made vaccum mount</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Vision system, Navitar 12x zoom</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Navitar</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Connecting tubes</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>VWR International</td>
<td>Clay Adam Intramedic PE190</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Blunt 18G needles</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Smallparts.com / Amazon Inc.</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Eccentric diaphragm micropump</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Schwarzer Precision</td>
<td>SP 500 EC-LC4.5V DC</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Solenoid valves</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Pneumadyne</td>
<td>S10MM-30-12-3</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Solenoid manifold</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Pneumadyne</td>
<td>MSV10-1</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Function generator</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Sigma</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Polyethylene glycol diacrylate 3.4 kDa</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Laysan Bio</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Polyethylene glycol 8 kDa</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Sigma</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Irgacure 2959</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Ciba Specialty Chemicals</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>1-vinyl-2-pyrolidinone</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Sigma</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Standard cell culture reagents</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>		</tbody>
		</table>
		</div>

microfabricated platforms for mechanically dynamic cell culture

The ability to systematically probe in vitro cellular response to combinations of mechanobiological stimuli for tissue engineering, drug discovery or fundamental cell biology studies is limited by current bioreactor technologies, which cannot simultaneously apply a variety of mechanical stimuli to cultured cells. In order to address this issue, we have developed a series of microfabricated platforms designed to screen for the effects of mechanical stimuli in a high-throughput format. In this protocol, we demonstrate the fabrication of a microactuator array of vertically displaced posts on which the technology is based, and further demonstrate how this base technology can be modified to conduct high-throughput mechanically dynamic cell culture in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional culture paradigms.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Microfabricated Platforms for Mechanically Dynamic Cell Culture at JoVE.com

Microfabricated Platforms for Mechanically Dynamic Cell Culture

In this protocol, we demonstrate the fabrication of a microactuator array of vertically displaced posts on which the technology is based, and how this base technology can be modified to conduct high-throughput mechanically dynamic cell culture in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional culture paradigms.

The ability to systematically probe in vitro cellular response to combinations of mechanobiological stimuli for tissue engineering, drug discovery or ...

microfabricated-platforms-for-mechanically-dynamic-cell-culture

Research

JoVE Journal

Bioengineering

13.5K Views.  University of Toronto. In this protocol, we demonstrate the fabrication of a microactuator array of vertically displaced posts on which the technology is based, and how this base technology can be modified to conduct high-throughput mechanically dynamic cell culture in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional culture paradigms.