Elasticizing tissues for reversible shape transformation and accelerated molecular labeling

Abstract

The ELAST technology renders large tissue samples elastic through embedding in hydrogel and facilitates sample handling and rapid molecular labeling. We developed entangled link-augmented stretchable tissue-hydrogel (ELAST), a technology that transforms tissues into elastic hydrogels to enhance macromolecular accessibility and mechanical stability simultaneously. ELASTicized tissues are highly stretchable and compressible, which enables reversible shape transformation and faster delivery of probes into intact tissue specimens via mechanical thinning. This universal platform may facilitate rapid and scalable molecular phenotyping of large-scale biological systems, such as human organs.