{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T09:10:59Z","timestamp":1777367459535,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"IOP Publishing","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775001600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1775001600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/info\/page\/text-and-data-mining"}],"funder":[{"name":"Edinburgh Global Research Scholarship"},{"name":"Principal career development scholarship, University of Edinburgh"},{"name":"Tenovus Scotland","award":["E22-05BG"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["E22-05BG"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["iopscience.iop.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biofabrication"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    Tissue-engineered tendon constructs that replicate the structural and functional properties of natural tendons are crucial in regenerative medicine to improve treatment outcomes after tendon injury. This study aimed to engineer 3-dimensional biomimetic tendon macro-tissues through bioassembly of cell spheroids. Rat tendon fibroblasts seeded at different cell numbers (1 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>4<\/jats:sup>\n                    , 5 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>4<\/jats:sup>\n                    , 1 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>5<\/jats:sup>\n                    , 2 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>5<\/jats:sup>\n                    , 3 \u00d7 10\n                    <jats:sup>5<\/jats:sup>\n                    ) were analysed for spheroid formation and development for 28 d. The spheroid diameters decreased over time with a reduction in cell density while synthesising their own collagen fibres. Spheroids were then bioassembled to form fused macro-tissue constructs using pillar array temporary supports. With the presence of ascorbic acid in growth media, the spheroids fused within 6 d after bioassembly, during which the supports were removed, leaving the constructs scaffold-free. The fused spheroids reorganised over time with increased fibrillar collagen content, showing elongated cell morphology in peripheral regions, which were parallelly aligned with collagen fibres resembling natural tendon micro-anatomy. The presence of scleraxis and tenomodulin gene markers also supports the tenogenic nature of tissue constructs. These biomimetic scaffold-free tenogenic macro-tissues have promising applications in tendon repair and regeneration, as\n                    <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>\n                    models and tendon graft substitutes.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1088\/1758-5090\/ae55ce","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T22:51:46Z","timestamp":1774306306000},"page":"025017","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1088\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Scaffold-free tenogenic macro-tissues engineered by multi-layered bioassembly of rat tendon fibroblast spheroids"],"prefix":"10.1088","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5615-5552","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Vinothini","family":"Prabhakaran","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anya","family":"Sobrattee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5881-837X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ferry P W","family":"Melchels","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lyndsay M","family":"Murray","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6061-8051","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jennifer Z","family":"Paxton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"266","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"bfae55cebib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-bioeng-071812-152423","type":"journal-article","article-title":"Self-organization and the self-assembling process in tissue engineering","volume":"15","author":"Athanasiou","year":"2013","journal-title":"Annu. 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