(307d) Mosaic Hydrogels: Continuous Formation of Multiscale Soft Materials

Materials with a spatially non-uniform composition that is closely linked to their function are abundant in nature and often possess a hierarchical architecture. I will discuss approaches for the continuous formation of hydrogel sheets and tubes while controlling their local composition at length scales of approximately 100 microns. Microfabricated devices enable the scalable formation of such mosaic hydrogels and their predictive population with biomolecular, colloidal, or cellular payloads. To illustrate the ability of storing information in mosaic hydrogels we incorporate text in ASCII or binary format (e.g., 'Copenhagen', 'Wisconsin', 'Minnesota', and 'MIT') as well as the flag of Denmark. We further incorporate void regions, establish directionally dependent stiffness and diffusivity patterns, and form cell-populated tessellations. Shape transformations of mosaic hydrogels will be discussed along with mosaic hydrogel assembles with length scales of up to one centimeter.

We envision mosaic hydrogels to become continuous, automatable, and physiologically meaningful formats for a range of applications that include automated cell manufacturing, bioprinting and reparative medicine. I will close my talk by illustrating in vitro and in vivo applications of mosaic hydrogels.