25th anniversary article: Designer hydrogels for cell cultures: a materials selection guide.

Cell culturing, whether for tissue engineering or cell biology studies, always involves placing cells in a non-natural environment and no material currently exist that can mimic the entire complexity of natural tissues and variety of cell-matrix interactions that is found in vivo. Here, we review the vast range of hydrogels, composed of natural or synthetic polymers that provide a route to tailored microenvironments. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.