Cellular Micromasonry: Biofabrication with Single Cell Precision

In many tissues, cell type varies over single-cell length-scales, creating detailed spatial heterogeneities fundamental to physiological function. To gain understanding of this relationship between tissue function and detailed structure, and to one day engineer structurally and physiologically accurate tissues, we need the ability to assemble 3D cellular structures having the level of detail found in living tissue. Here we introduce a method of 3D cell assembly that has a level of precision finer than the single-cell scale. With this method we create numerous structures having well-defined spatial patterns, demonstrating that cell type can be varied over the scale of individual cells and showing function after their assembly. This technique provides innumerable opportunities to study cellular behavior in defined contexts including complex interactions operating during embryogenesis.