Suspended Tissue Open Microfluidic Patterning (STOMP)

Abstract

Free-standing tissue structures tethered between pillars are powerful mechanobiology tools for studying cell contraction. To model interfaces ubiquitous in natural tissues and upgrade existing single-region suspended constructs, we developed Suspended Tissue Open Microfluidic Patterning (STOMP), a method to create multi-regional suspended tissues. STOMP uses open microfluidics and capillary pinning to pattern subregions within free-standing tissues, facilitating the study of complex tissue interfaces, such as diseased-healthy boundaries (e.g., fibrotic-healthy) and tissue-type interfaces (e.g., bone-ligament). We observed altered contractile dynamics in fibrotic-healthy engineered heart tissues compared to single-region tissues and differing contractility in bone-ligament enthesis constructs compared to single-tissue periodontal ligament models. STOMP is a versatile platform - surface tension-driven patterning removes material requirements common with other patterning methods (e.g., shear-thinning, photopolymerizable) allowing tissue generation in multiple geometries with native extracellular matrices and advanced 4D materials. STOMP combines the contractile functionality of suspended tissues with precise patterning, enabling dynamic and spatially controlled studies.