Biotechnology (Commonwealth Union) – The fascination that comes from watching an individual perform kirigami is absolutely memorable. The ability to cut paper at a specific and bring out a remarkable shape or structure of a staircase, bird or plane often takes the unimaginable to something that seems like magic. US Bioengineers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) are now using the same principle to build tissue-like structures that bend and fold on their own, an approach that could eventually help repair damaged cartilage, bone, and blood vessels, and support wound healing.
The study appeared in the journal Cell Biomaterials, comes from the lab of UIC professor Eben Alsberg. The authors are Kaelyn L. Gasvoda, Aixiang Ding, Zhangli Peng, Alexandria Sterenberg, Oju Jeon, and Alsberg.
A longstanding challenge
Human tissues are not flat. Tracheas, blood vessels, and joint cartilage all have intricate three-dimensional curves closely tied to how they function. Conventional tissue engineering has struggled to reproduce shapes like these, the researchers say.
Kirigami has already inspired advances in spacecraft structures, wearable devices, optics, and semiconductors, because patterning can make stiff, flat materials stretchy and shape-shifting without changing what they are made of. Until now, however, it had barely been explored with soft, gel-like materials that can carry living cells.
Designing a shape-shifting gel
The team built a hydrogel platform from derivatives of gelatin and alginate, a natural polymer extracted from seaweed. Using photolithography, they shone patterned light onto the material to create regions with different degrees of crosslinking.
That patterning is what drives the transformation. In the finished constructs, a rigid outer framework keeps its shape in the liquid culture medium. The softer inner regions absorb the medium and swell. Because different parts expand by different amounts, the flat construct bends and folds into a predetermined three-dimensional form without further handling by researchers.
The biomaterials were designed to be cytocompatible, i.e., to support the long-term survival, growth and specialisation of cells. The team said the platform generated complex geometries as new tissue grew.
The technique could also make it possible for multiple types of cells to be spatially put together to help each in the particular part in a tissue, according to Ding, who is an associate research professor.
The findings are still in the early phase. The technology will then be evaluated in animal studies, with the goal of eventually coming to the stage of human applications.
The finding was announced by UIC’s College of Engineering on Oct. 16, 2026.
