Tuning the matrix: Recent advances in mechanobiology unveiled through polyacrylamide hydrogels

Over the past 30 years, polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels have become essential tools to mimic the mechanical properties, chemical composition, and dimensionality of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in in vitro mechanobiology studies. This brief review highlights recent developments that have transformed PAAm hydrogels from simple 2D static elastic hydrogels to complex ECM-mimicking systems involving protein micropatterning, mechanical patterning, stretching, DNA tension probes, viscoelasticity, and the microfabrication of 3D systems. We focus on novel mechanobiological questions that have been elucidated using these platforms and give a perspective on the future of PAAm hydrogels for mechanobiology research.