After polymerization and swelling, slides were closed and sealed with a UVC transmitting quartz glass slide on a PDMS frame to prevent evaporation during the irradiation and imaging steps. Characterization of UV degradation started by imaging the slides through fluorescence microscopy, followed by cycles of irradiation with UVC light and microscopy imaging. The final images were evaluated using an automated image processing protocol and each droplet's fluorescence area as well as the integrated pixel intensity were calculated. By this, the degradation curves for these gels were recorded three times on three different slides and showed good reproducibility and reliable results (Figure ), enabling the progression to the final screening. Following our experimental routine, we screened more than 900 compositions and recorded the respective degradation curves (Figure ). More precisely, we performed measurements of 918 hydrogel compositions with 6 replicates each, yielding a data set with more than 66.000 measurement points. To validate the generated data, additional measurements in microliter size were performed.