Figure 1.

A schematic representation of engineered 3D tissue models for a wide range of biomedical research fields. The engineered 3D tissue models are created by encapsulating target cells via either chemical or physical crosslinking reactions. The engineered hydrogel matrices should be decorated or incorporated with proteolytic degradable sites, cell-adhesion moieties and growth factor-binding molecules to support cell growth within the matrices. Advanced tissue models have been utilized as a platform in a broad range of biomedical research fields, including the study of basic cell biology, tissue regeneration and drug screening/toxicity test platforms.