{
  "abstract": "In breast cancer, collagen fiber alignment and the second harmonic generation forward-to-backward ratio (F/B), an optical measurement sensitive to fibril-scale organization within collagen fibers, have each been associated with metastatic outcome. Although both are measured at the tumor-stromal interface, in vitro studies have largely examined them separately, because experimental systems have not allowed the two to be varied independently. To address this technical gap, we used a microfluidic biofabrication approach to generate paired aligned and unaligned regions within 3D collagen hydrogels via extensional strain and varied measured F/B across gels by changing the pre-gel pH. The resulting library covered alignment values reported in breast tumors and F/B values associated with poorer metastatic outcome in invasive ductal carcinoma at matched matrix stiffness, pore diameter, and fiber fraction. In MDA-MB-231 cells, alignment biased migration along the fiber axis without changing migration speed, as expected, but the magnitude of the contact guidance response varied with measured F/B. In contrast, MCF-7 cells showed little overall contact guidance, yet migrated ~30% faster in high F/B than low F/B gels in both aligned and unaligned regions. Together, these results show that cells migrated differently in matrices with similar fiber alignment. Thus, including measured F/B may provide additional information to help anticipate how cells migrate in collagen environments that appear similar based on alignment alone.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Rochester Institute of Technology"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "P. Esmaili"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. M. Elias"
    },
    {
      "name": "I. M. Joshi"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. A. Simon"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. De Silva"
    },
    {
      "name": "S. Farajollahi"
    },
    {
      "name": "O. M. Harris"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. B. Brown"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "V. V. Abhyankar"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9ehrzr7gxkdy9.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.29.755189",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755189v1.full",
  "id": "9ehrzr7gxkdy9",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755189v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "bioengineering"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1307|Cellular Mechanics and Interactions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214924300",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755189v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9ehrzr7gxkdy9.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:24Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.29.755189",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755189v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:bioengineering",
      "subfield": "systems-synthetic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Fiber alignment alone is insufficient to predict cellular contact guidance responses in engineered 3D collagen hydrogels",
  "title_text": "Fiber alignment alone is insufficient to predict cellular contact guidance responses in engineered 3D collagen hydrogels",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:24Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9ehrzr7gxkdy9",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}