| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Thursday Sessions |
| Session BI1+NS-ThM |
| Session: | Replicating Biological Environments and Processes |
| Presenter: | C.P. Tan, Cornell University |
| Authors: | C.P. Tan, Cornell University B.R. Cipriany, Cornell University B.R. Seo, Cornell University D.J. Brooks, Cornell University E.M. Chandler, Cornell University C. Fischbach, Cornell University D.M. Lin, Cornell University H.G. Craighead, Cornell University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Spatial manipulation of biomolecules and cells on a surface with nano- and micrometer scale precision is important in engineering biological microenvironments for tissue engineering, micro total analysis systems (biosensors, microfluidics and microarrays), and fundamental biophysical studies. We present Parylene Peel-Off, a simple and adaptable tool that can be used to improve current patterning/engineering of biological environments. In this work, we describe the fabrication process for creating a polymer (parylene-C) template to serve as a stencil for printing nano- and microscale regions of nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and cells. Afterwards, the parylene template can be easily peeled away to yield arrays of highly uniform biomolecular features in a large area format. We demonstrate the use of our Parylene Peel-Off technology to micropattern tumor cell arrays, for investigations into the role of cell-cell interactions in angiogenesis and cancer progession. By combining Parylene Peel-Off with current inkjet printing technologies, we have also generated multi-component, combinatorial protein arrays with array feature sizes down to 90nm. We anticipate that Parylene Peel-Off will be useful for enabling high-resolution studies of subcellular biological processes, integrating biochemical functionalities with miniaturized sensors, and engineering cellular and tissue microenvironments. Beyond basic science, our Parylene Peel-Off technology can be a useful tool to pattern chemically sensitive materials that are difficult to manipulate on the nano-scale, improve drug screening, and enable current inkjet printing technologies to extend their resolution to the sub-micrometer scale.