  Multicellular migration and pattern formation play important roles in
developmental biology, cancer metastasis and wound healing. To understand the
collective cell dynamics in three dimensional extracellular matrix (ECM), we
have developed a simple and mechanical-based strategy, Diskoid In Geometrically
Micropatterned ECM (DIGME). DIGME allows easy engineering of the shape of 3-D
tissue organoid, the mesoscale ECM heterogeneity, and the fiber alignment of
collagen-based ECM all at the same time. We have employed DIGME to study the
collective cancer invasion and find that DIGME provides a powerful tool to
probe three dimensional dynamics of tumor organoid in patterned
microenvironment.
