Controlled generation of cell–laden hydrogel microspheres with core–shell scaffold mimicking microenvironment of tumor<xref rid="cpb_27_12_128703_fn1" ref-type="fn">*</xref><fn id="cpb_27_12_128703_fn1"><label>*</label><p>Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474345, 11674043, and 11604030) and the Fundamental and Advanced Research Program of Chongqing (Grant No. cstc2018jcyjAX0338).</p></fn>

Controlled generation of cell–laden hydrogel microspheres with core–shell scaffold mimicking microenvironment of tumor**

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474345, 11674043, and 11604030) and the Fundamental and Advanced Research Program of Chongqing (Grant No. cstc2018jcyjAX0338).

Li Yuenan¹, Hai Miaomiao¹, Zhao Yu², Lv Yalei¹, He Yi¹, Chen Guo¹, Liu Liyu¹, Liu Ruchuan^{1, ‡}, Zhang Guigen^{2, §}

(color online) The 3D microfluidic chip for droplets generation. (a) An overall view of the microfluidic chip with oil phase (O1, O2) and aqueous phase (A1, A2) supply tubes linked, placed beside a coin; (b) 3D schematics of the microfluidic chip; (c) Left: top view of the microfluidic chip designed with the Ledit software (Tanner EDA). Right: microscopic image showing the formation of droplets of two aqueous phase (green and red). This microscopic image was taken in bright field and processed with ImageJ. The scale bar is 200 μm. (d) Reaction scheme for the crosslinking process. When the pH is reduced, calcium ions are gradually released from calcium-EDTA to trigger the gelation of water-soluble alginate.