Biohybrid Actuators Combining Living Cells and Photopolymer Structures: Force Generation, Feeding, Control and Longevity

Biohybrid actuators use living contractile cells or tissues to generate force against an artificial structure. Photopolymer components can provide anchors, skeletons, guides, molds or encapsulating interfaces, but actuation is a system property that depends on tissue maturation, feeding, stimulation, load transfer and fatigue. This review defines qualification of force, displacement, geometry, stimulation, culture support and lifetime, and prevents attribution of biological actuator performance to the photopolymer structure alone. ER-440.