Over the past 30 years, polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels have become essential tools to mimic the mechanical properties, chemical composition, and dimensionality of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in in vitro mechanobiology studies. This brief review highlights recent developments that have transformed PAAm hydrogels from simple 2D static elastic hydrogels to complex ECM-mimicking systems involving protein micropatterning, mechanical patterning, stretching, DNA tension probes, viscoelasticity, and the microfabrication of 3D systems. We focus on novel mechanobiological questions that have been elucidated using these platforms and give a perspective on the future of PAAm hydrogels for mechanobiology research.
Cookie Consent The IBEC website uses cookies and similar technologies to ensure the basic functionality of the site and for statistical and optimisation purposes. It also uses cookies to display content such as YouTube videos that use marketing cookies. This last category consists of tracking cookies: these make it possible for your online behaviour to be tracked. You consent to this by clicking on Accept. Also read our Privacy statement.
Read our cookie policy
Ciccone, Giuseppe, Salmeron-Sanchez, Manuel, (2025). Tuning the matrix: recent advances in mechanobiology unveiled through polyacrylamide hydrogels Curr Opin Biomed Eng 35, 100604 