Cell Sheet Engineering: Thermoresponsive Harvest (2D)

Cell sheet engineering replaces enzymatic digestion with a temperature-responsive polymer coating (PNIPAAm) whose lower critical solution temperature sits at body temperature. This top-down simulator grows a confluent cell monolayer on a dish, lets you tune culture time and temperature, and shows the polymer's adhesion strength crossing its LCST live — cells are drawn wired together by junction lines. Trigger a thermal harvest below 32 °C and the whole sheet lifts off intact with every junction line preserved; trigger an enzymatic (trypsin) harvest instead and watch junction lines cut one by one as cells detach individually and scatter, the same trade-off tissue engineers face when choosing how to release a cultured graft.