The Max Planck team developed a lab-on-a-chip that uses light- and temperature-responsive hydrogel microstructures to mechanically perturb cells and extracellular matrices with high spatial and temporal precision. Researchers observed collagen remodeling and other matrix changes microscopically, tracking effects with fluorescent beads at distances of up to hundreds of micrometers. The approach could become a platform for testing 3D cancer models, studying blood vessel formation, and developing diagnostic micromachines.
Hydrogel “Micromachines” Compress Cells On A Chip — A New Tool For Studying Tissue Mechanics
These Hydrogels Could Revolutionize MedicineMariya Borisova / 500px - Getty Images
Hydrogels—polymer networks that can retain large quantities of water—are increasingly valuable in biomedical research because they mimic the soft, water-rich properties of living tissues. A team at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) has built a compact lab-on-a-chip system that uses programmable hydrogel microstructures to apply precise mechanical forces to cells and extracellular matrices (ECM). The study was published in the journal Lab on a Chip.
What The Researchers Did
The MPL team fabricated hydrogel elements that reliably contract or expand when exposed to light or changes in temperature. Integrated into a microfluidic chip, these "micromachines" physically squeeze nearby cells and polymer networks to simulate the kinds of mechanical stresses cells experience in the body. While applying controlled perturbations, the researchers observed responses under a microscope and used fluorescent tracer beads to quantify matrix deformations.
How It Works
Because the hydrogels respond to external stimuli, the system can deliver forces with both high spatial and high temporal precision. The authors report that induced contractions produced measurable remodeling in surrounding collagen and other biological polymers, with detectable effects tracked as far as hundreds of micrometers away using fluorescent microspheres.
“Our method allows us to generate mechanical forces with high spatial and temporal precision, and to record their effects on biological systems,” said lead author Vicente Salas-Quiroz.
Why It Matters
Mechanical remodeling of the ECM influences cell behavior, tissue homeostasis, wound healing and tumor progression. Existing techniques to study those forces on microscales either require bulky instrumentation or lack the fine control needed to probe microscale mechanics. By embedding responsive hydrogels into a compact chip, this approach provides a scalable, higher-precision way to study mechanobiology in realistic 3D models.
Potential Applications
The researchers envision programmable hydrogel microstructures acting as diagnostic tools or "micromachines" to probe 3D cancer models, monitor blood-vessel formation, and assay tissue mechanics at micrometer resolution. Such platforms could improve disease modeling, help screen therapies that target mechanical pathways, and expand fundamental studies of how forces shape cellular environments.
While further work is needed to translate the technique into routine diagnostic devices, the MPL study represents a significant advance in the toolkit available for mechanobiology and micro-scale tissue assays.
