A (bio) materials approach to three-dimensional cell biology
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A (bio) materials approach to three-dimensional cell biology Róisín M. Owens, University of Cambridge (MRS Communications Principal Editor) Donata Iandolo, Ecole des Mines de St. Etienne (Guest editor) Katharina Wittmann, Julius-Maximilians-University, Wuerzburg (Guest editor)
The time is right to highlight the importance of (bio)materials for three-dimensional (3D) cell biology. Materials used in 3D cell biology are crucial for both in vitro and in vivo applications in diverse research fields such as tissue engineering and development of in vitro organ/tissue model. More than ever, cell biology benefits from developments in materials science and related technologies to advance our basic understanding of cell biology and gives rise to novel solutions for problems in diagnostics and therapeutics. In this special issue of MRS Communications, we have brought together a collection of articles from experts in the field focusing on 3D cell biology. We have placed a particular focus on capturing the achievements and future contributions of materials scientists and engineers in this exciting new area of biology. We envision biomaterials-based 3D models as fundamental research tools for addressing current questions in cell biology across disciplines. Such 3D models may be derived from animal sources (e.g., decellularized organs, tissues), but may also be assembled on supports (e.g., scaffolds, hydrogels) or in layered environments (e.g., on filters or in layer-by-layer formats) or indeed without supports (e.g., spheroids/ organoids). A key step forward in current research efforts is to recapitulate physiologically relevant 3D (micro)environments, not only in terms of biochemical cues, but also structural and physical cues such as morphology, stiffness, and fluid flow. Materials scientists have had particularly valuable contributions to the development of this trending 3D biology area both in terms of the development of biomaterials and also of the novel, innovative technologies that facilitate research in this area. In the first part of this special issue, the idea of “enabling technologies” and future challenges is explored, as applied to bone tissue engineering (Boys et al.) and neural engineering (Merryweather et al.), highlighting challenges to be solved in terms of accurately modeling tissue structure (Mandrycky et al.) and physiological vascular function (Wang et al.). For the most part, since the establishment of reliable methods for extracting and culturing cells in the laboratory (in vitro), biologists have cultured these cells in dishes or plates, usually glass or plastic. An extraordinary amount of progress has been
made in understanding the fundamentals of cell biology using these techniques. However, a realization has arisen over the last 30 years or so that 2D cell biology does not accurately represent tissue, particularly in the case of disease modeling. Numerous differences exist between cells grown in 2D and in 3D, including their mechanical properties and their access to biochemical cues (i.e., cells
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