Methods of making spheroids including biologically-relevant materials
AssigneeUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsStuart K. Williams, Jeremy S. Touroo, James B. Hoying
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Abstract
Methods of making a spheroid are provided whereby a suspension is first produced including one or more biologically-relevant materials dispersed within a biocompatible medium. A droplet of the suspension is then bioprinted into a salt solution by bringing the droplet into contact with a surface of the salt solution in a controlled manner to reproducibly yield a spheroid containing a desired size and a desired amount of biologically-relevant materials.
Claims11
A pre-vascularized spheroid comprising one or more microvascular fragments surrounding a composition that comprises one or more biologically-relevant materials, said biologically-relevant materials and microvascular fragments being dispersed in a hydrogel comprising alginate, said spheroid having uniform dimensions and a diameter between 500 and 2,500 microns, wherein said spheroid is produced by a method comprising:
- providing a first suspension comprising one or more biologically-relevant materials dispersed within a biocompatible medium, wherein the biocompatible medium is a hydrogel comprising alginate;
- providing a second suspension comprising one or more microvascular fragments dispersed within a biocompatible medium, wherein the biocompatible medium is a hydrogel comprising alginate;
- providing a bioprinter having a first delivery pen surrounded by a second delivery pen;
- placing the first suspension in the first delivery pen and the second suspension in the second delivery pen;
- and
- extruding the first suspension from the first delivery pen and the second suspension from the second delivery pen in a substantially simultaneous manner such that a droplet is formed with the second suspension encapsulating the first suspension, thereby forming the pre-vascularized spheroid;
- wherein the biologically-relevant materials comprise stromal vascular fraction cells or stem cells.
A pre-vascularized spheroid comprising one or more microvascular fragments surrounding a composition that comprises one or more biologically-relevant materials, said biologically-relevant materials and microvascular fragments being dispersed in a hydrogel comprising alginate, said spheroid having uniform dimensions and a diameter between 500 and 2,500 microns, wherein said spheroid is produced by a method comprising:
- providing a droplet of a suspension on a delivery pen tip, wherein the suspension comprises one or more biologically-relevant materials dispersed within a biocompatible medium, wherein the biocompatible medium is a hydrogel comprising alginate;
- bringing the droplet into contact with a surface of a salt solution by bringing the delivery pen tip toward the salt solution;
- and
- compressing the droplet against the surface of the salt solution for a period of time until the spheroid is formed;
- wherein the biologically-relevant materials comprise stromal vascular fraction cells or stem cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.