Flexible Fabrication of Shape‐Controlled Collagen Building Blocks for Self‐Assembly of 3D Microtissues

Creating artificial tissue‐like structures that possess the functionality, specificity, and architecture of native tissues remains a big challenge. A new and straightforward strategy for generating shape‐controlled collagen building blocks with a well‐defined architecture is presented, which can be used for self‐assembly of complex 3D microtissues. Collagen blocks with tunable geometries are controllably produced and released via a membrane‐templated microdevice. The formation of functional microtissues by embedding tissue‐specific cells into collagen blocks with expression of specific proteins is described. The spontaneous self‐assembly of cell‐laden collagen blocks into organized tissue constructs with predetermined configurations is demonstrated, which are largely driven by the synergistic effects of cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions. This new strategy would open up new avenues for the study of tissue/organ morphogenesis, and tissue engineering applications.