Making 2D Hydrogels
Materials
Microscope slides
Glass cutter
Dye
Forceps
Small binder clips
Monomer formulation with initiator
Procedure
Warm up UV light (10 min prior to using)
Cut at least two thin pieces from a microscope slide (spacers)
Spray down microscope slides, spacers, forceps, dye, and binder clips and place in hood
Assemble mold (see picture)
Add ~1.5 ml of monomer solution to mold between microscope slides
Place on pipette tip box and put under UV light for ~10 minutes
Once polymerized, remove clips and pry open the mold taking care not to rip the polymer sheet
Using the dye, punch out polymer disks
Place disks in 12 or 24-well untreated plates and add sterile PBS
Leave plates (with cover off) under UV light overnight
Rinse wells with sterile PBS 3x before seeding cells
Microscope slides