Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2012
The ability to control the deposition of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs),and mESCs encapsulated in 200-μm diameter alginate microbeads, intocustomized patterns has recently been achieved using laser direct-write(LDW). Gelatin-based LDW was utilized to target and reproducibly depositgroups of cells directly onto receiving substrate surfaces. Live/deadstaining for cell viability and immunocytochemistry for the pluripotencymarker, Oct-4, indicated that transferred mESCs were viable followingtransfer, and maintained an important embryonic stem cell marker,respectively. LDW was further used to print mESCs encapsulated in hydrogelmicrobeads into customized patterns on a single-bead basis. Recent effortshave also achieved patterns of discrete co-cultures of mESCs and breastcancer cells in separate hydrogel microbeads. Altogether, we demonstratedthe feasibility of LDW to print patterns of mESCs and mESC-microbeads forthe biomimetic assembly of engineered cellular constructs and tissuemodels.