Sphere Fluidics and ClexBio Cytrix Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit

Sphere Fluidics and ClexBio have launched the biocompatible Cytrix Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit. The kit combines ClexBio's Cytrix Hydrogel with Sphere Fluidics' Pico-Gen double aqueous biochip to generate defined, reproducible, and tailorable hydrogel microstructures for 3D cell culture, organoids, single-cell analysis, and other applications. This allows researchers to study cells over weeks rather than days in defined microenvironments that mimic the natural extracellular matrix.

The Cytrix Hydrogel overcomes the challenges of existing microfluidic hydrogel formation techniques, such as clogging, temperature control issues, or time-critical mixing procedures, the companies said. It offers cytocompatibility and microfluidic-optimized gelation kinetics, providing researchers with a cell-friendly solution to reduce the effect of harmful temperatures, pH changes, and use of UV light required for existing hydrogel formation techniques. Paired with the Sphere Fluidics Pico-Gen double aqueous biochip and microfluidics, the Cytrix Hydrogel enables efficient encapsulation of mammalian cells, bacteria, and other microorganisms in a homogeneous and defined extracellular matrix that supports cell viability.