Handle With Care: Mobile Microgrippers Pick Up Cells in a Pinch

In tissue engineering, the tiniest bit of improper force can harm a living culture. 3D clumps of cells — known as spheroids — can be used to model complex human tissues, because they can re-create specific cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interactions. But these spheroids are also fragile, and common techniques of moving them manually via suction can easily damage them.

In APL Bioengineering, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Purdue University designed a force-sensing miniature robot, called a mobile microgripper (MMG), to handle these cell spheroids with care.

“Other techniques for cell spheroid bioassembly can affect the tissue construct and/or apply limited manipulation forces,” said author David Cappelleri. “The force-sensing MMG presented here addresses these current issues by allowing the safe bioassembly of different spheroids into a single construct.”