Active diffusion-limited aggregation of cells

Abstract

Biological self-assembly is a useful tool to build living tissues for medical applications or in vitro studies. Here we investigate the ability of cells to self-organize and construct three-dimensional cellular structures on non-adhesive substrates. When cells are deposited on a PolyEthyleneGlycol-coated substrate, they diffuse randomly and eventually meet to form clusters that consolidate into three-dimensional aggregates. We describe the observed dynamics of aggregation by accounting for cell motility and tissue compaction due to surface tension.