Multifaceted Nano- and Micropatterned Surfaces for Cell Adhesion Manipulation

Surfaces displaying nano- and micropatterned cell adhesive ligands have led to numerous discoveries in cell biology. Soft lithography techniques such as microcontact printing are well suited for creating surfaces displaying micropatterns of one ligand type in a single arrangement but are difficult to implement for the creation of multifaceted surfaces that present multiple ligand types with each ligand confined to their own pattern. To better understand the influence of extracellular matrix (ECM) composition on adhesion site formation and gross cell behavior (motility, proliferation, differentiation, etc.) it would be advantageous to posses the ability to create surfaces displaying multiple patterned ligands with length scales ranging from < 0.25 μm², the typical size of a focal complex to > 1 μm², the size of focal adhesions. Higher spatial resolution than what is easily achieved with microcontact printing is also desired. Such surfaces would allow for the simultaneous investigations of adhesion site maturation and composition and how changes in these properties can be implemented to engineer cell behavior via cell-surface interactions.