Photocrosslinked GelMA Hydrogel Discs

GelMA discs hydrogels were obtained by solubilizing GelMA in PBS at the concentration of 7% w/v. The photoinitiator Irgacure 2959 (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) was mixed in the polymeric solution at the concentration of 0.1% w/w before UV irradiation. Photocrosslinked hydrogel discs were obtained by adding 150 μL of the polymer solution on a petri dish between two 100 μm thick spacers. A glass slide was gently placed on top of this pre-polymeric solution and exposed to UV irradiation (Omnicure S200, Lumen Dynamics, Canada) for 80 s at an intensity of 7 mW/cm². The photo-crosslinked GelMA discs (100 μm thick) were then rinsed with PBS to remove any uncrosslinked polymer and treated with 1% penicillin/ streptomycin (P/S) before using them for cell culture experiments.^{44 (link)}