Page 404 - IJB-10-1

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Controlled preparation of droplets for cell

encapsulation by air-focused microfluidic
bioprinting

Chenjing Yang 1,2,3† , Wei Wu , Yang Gao , Shuxing Lao , Shikai Zhang , Jianghui
4
4
1†
1†
Tang , Xingqun Pu , Xingyu Lu , Fangfu Ye *, Peng Zhao *, and Dong Chen 1,2,4 *
5
1
1
3,6
1
1 Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang
University, Hangzhou 310003, China
2 Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Smart Biomaterials, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering,
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
3
Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou 325001, Zhejiang
Province, China
4 College of Energy Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang
University, Hangzhou 310027, China
5 Key Laboratory of Precise Synthesis of Functional Molecules of Zhejiang Province, Instrumentation
and Service Center for Molecular Sciences, Westlake University, 18 Shilongshan Road, Hangzhou
310024, Zhejiang Province, China
† These authors contributed equally 6 Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy
to this work. of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
*Corresponding authors:
Fangfu Ye
(fye@iphy.ac.cn)
Peng Zhao Abstract
(zhaop@zju.edu.cn)
Dong Chen Microfluidics is a facile platform that manipulates fluids for the production of
(chen_dong@zju.edu.cn) droplets, particles, and microcapsules. However, the application of microfluidics is
Citation: Yang C, Wu W, Gao Y, limited to the manipulation of the droplet position and the presence of a continuous
et al. Controlled preparation of oil phase, which needs to be removed for biomedical applications. Here, we used
droplets for cell encapsulation by
air-focused microfluidic bioprinting. air as the continuous phase and developed a facile method for droplet generation
Int J Bioprint. 2024;10(1):1102 and patterning by air-focused microfluidic three-dimensional (3D) droplet printing
doi: 10.36922/ijb.1102 (AFMDP). By tuning the viscous drag of a focused air flow, monodisperse droplets
Received: June 19, 2023 with tunable size were generated in a microfluidic device, and droplet patterns were
Accepted: August 9, 2023 designed by combining the control system of the 3D printer. When using droplets
Published Online: January 8, 2024 as templates, hydrogel particles were prepared by AFMDP and crosslinked in a CaCl
2
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). bath. These hydrogel particles were proven to be good carriers for the cell culture,
This is an Open Access article controlled release, and immune therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution T cells. Cell viability and activity results confirmed that encapsulation of CAR-T
License, permitting distribution, cells in hydrogel particles did not compromise their cell activity and functionality
and reproduction in any medium, but facilitated their manipulation and cell culture. Therefore, the AFMDP system
provided the original work is
properly cited. provided a versatile platform for the design of droplets, particles, and microcapsules
for biomedical applications.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Keywords: Microfluidics; Droplet; 3D printing; Particle
affiliations.

Volume 10 Issue 1 (2024) 396 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.1102