Low-Voltage Continuous Electrospinning: A Versatile Protocol for Patterning Nano- and Micro-Scaled Fibers for Cell Interface

Research on high sensitivity piezoresistive sensor based on structural design

With the popularity of smart terminals, wearable electronic devices have shown great market prospects, especially high-sensitivity pressure sensors, which can monitor micro-stimuli and high-precision dynamic external stimuli, and will have an important impact on future functional development. Compressible flexible sensors have attracted wide attention due to their simple sensing mechanism and the advantages of light weight and convenience. Sensors with high sensitivity are very sensitive to pressure and can detect resistance/current changes under pressure, which has been widely studied. On this basis, this review focuses on analyzing the performance impact of device structure design strategies on high sensitivity pressure sensors. The design of structures can be divided into interface microstructures and three-dimensional framework structures. The preparation methods of various structures are introduced in detail, and the current research status and future development challenges are summarized.

Cancer cell migration on straight, wavy, loop and grid microfibre patterns

Cell migration plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes where the fibrillar morphology of extracellular matrices (ECM) could regulate the migration dynamics. To mimic the morphological characteristics of fibrillar matrix structures, low-voltage continuous electrospinning was adapted to construct straight, wavy, looped and gridded fibre patterns made of polystyrene (of fibre diameter ca. 3 μm). Cells were free to explore their different shapes in response to the directly-adhered fibre, as well as to the neighbouring patterns. For all the patterns studied, analysing cellular migration dynamics of MDA-MB-231 (a highly migratory breast cancer cell line) demonstrated two interesting findings: first, although cells dynamically adjust their shapes and migration trajectories in response to different fibrillar environments, their average step speed is minimally affected by the fibre global pattern; secondly, a switch in behaviour was observed when the pattern features approach the upper limit of the cell body's minor axis, reflecting that cells' ability to divert from an existing fibre track is limited by the size along the cell body's minor axis. It is therefore concluded that the upper limit of cell body's minor axis might act as a guide for the design of microfibre patterns for different purposes of cell migration.