Figure 3.

Schematic of the strategies used to vascularize microfluidic‐based models. a,b) Soft lithography and c–f) patterning. a) Membrane‐based vascularized device: i) the fabrication process consists of assembling the microfluidic layers and a porous membrane and the assembled chip with the typical sandwiched structure. b) ECM‐based microfluidic platform: i) the chip usually contains one or more channels filled with ECM proteins that ii) embed the parenchymal and vascular components. c) Templating: i) a matrix is casted around the template equipment (needle, fiber), which is ii) subsequently removed to form the channel. d) Sacrificial molding: i) the patterned template is fabricated and encased in the surrounding matrix, ii) the template is removed, and iii) the device is seeded and perfused. e) Layer‐by‐layer: the modular layers are assembled, for instance, i) by photocrosslinking before ii) the device seeding. f) Bioprinting for microfluidics: usually performed on ECM matrix—eventually bioprinted—in which vascular and parenchymal inks can be used to i) build the tissue before ii) perfusion of the device. Created with BioRender.com.