| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session BI-TuP |
| Session: | Biomaterials Interfaces Poster Session with Focus on Cells and Proteins at Interfaces |
| Presenter: | U.A. Martinez, The University of New Mexico |
| Authors: | U.A. Martinez, The University of New Mexico T.C. Gamble, The University of New Mexico G.P. Lopez, The University of New Mexico E.L. Dirk, The University of New Mexico |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The control of cellular functions will find many applications in the development of new materials for biomedical applications such as tissue engineering. However, for this to be possible, understanding the cell-material interactions is essential. In this work, interferometric lithography was used to create nanometer-scale patterned substrates. Interferometric lithography is a method for fabricating spatially consistent periodic patterns with the use of the interference of two coherent optical beams. The interfering beams produce a standing wave that can be recorded in a photoresist making equally spaced channels. The substrate is then rotated 90° and exposed again creating photoresist pillars. After exposure, the substrates are coated with a 30 nm layer of gold, using a 3 nm layer of chromium to enhance adhesion. An acetone lift-off procedure removes the photoresist pillars, leaving uncoated patches throughout the gold-coated surface. Self-assembled monolayers are formed on the gold-coated areas using thiols of poly(ethylene glycol) [PEG], a biologically inactive molecule that inhibits protein adsorption. Fibronectin, a protein that enhances cellular adhesion, is adsorbed onto the uncoated regions rendering cell adhesive patches. A double exposure technique has also been developed to obtain a two-fold increase in the pitch while holding the same patch size. For example, a pitch of 300 nm with a 100 nm patch can be increased to a 600 nm pitch while maintaining the same size of the patch. These nanopatterned cell adhesive substrates offer a method to systematically manipulate cellular attachment to further control cellular functions such as spreading, viability and differentiation.