The use of microfabrication technology to address the challenges of building physiologically relevant vasculature

Vasculature is an essential component of physiologically relevant tissue, yet mimicking the native vasculature is an ongoing challenge in tissue engineering. Microfabrication may provide a solution. This technique allows for control of material design and architecture at the micron scale, which in turn enables the incorporation of microscale cues that are important for cell culture and the encouragement of organized vascularization. This review discusses the use of microfabrication to control the local biochemical environments for cells, the biophysical stimuli to which cells respond, and the assembly of more realistic spatial arrangements of various cell and tissue types. Furthermore, we describe ways in which microfabrication techniques are being used to address some of the challenges in translating these engineered tissue platforms into clinically relevant systems.