In tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, the conditions in the immediate vicinity of the cells have a direct effect on cells' behaviour and subsequently on clinical outcomes. Physical, chemical, and biological control of cell microenvironment are of crucial importance for the ability to direct and control cell behaviour in 3-dimensional tissue engineering scaffolds spatially and temporally. In this review, we will focus on the different aspects of cell microenvironment such as surface micro-, nanotopography, extracellular matrix composition and distribution, controlled release of soluble factors, and mechanical stress/strain conditions and how these aspects and their interactions can be used to achieve a higher degree of control over cellular activities. The effect of these parameters on the cellular behaviour within tissue engineering context is discussed and how these parameters are used to develop engineered tissues is elaborated. Also, recent techniques developed for the monitoring of the cell microenvironment in vitro and in vivo are reviewed, together with recent tissue engineering applications where the control of cell microenvironment has been exploited. Cell microenvironment engineering and monitoring are crucial parts of tissue engineering efforts and systems which utilize different components of the cell microenvironment simultaneously can provide more functional engineered tissues in the near future.

Surface features on the length scale of organelles allow their manipulation. Here, we present observations of an unexpected deformation of nuclei within cells growing on surfaces with micrometer‐sized pillars. Our results demonstrate that a microstructured surface can induce strong shape deformations in cells, without harmful consequences, and strongly suggest that these are limited to cancerous cells.

Major problems with biomedical devices in particular implants located in nonsterile environments concern: (i) excessive immune response to the implant, (ii) development of bacterial biofi lms, and (iii) yeast and fungi infections. An original multifunctional coating that addresses all these issues concomitantly is developed. A new exponentially growing polyelectrolyte multilayer fi lm based on polyarginine (PAR) and hyaluronic acid (HA) is designed. The fi lms have a strong inhibitory effect on the production of infl ammatory cytokines released by human primary macrophage subpopulations. This could reduce potential chronic infl ammatory reaction following implantation. Next, it is shown that PAR, due to its positive charges, has an antimicrobial activity in fi lm format against Staphylococcus aureus for 24 h. In order to have a long-term antimicrobial activity, a precursor nanoscale silver coating is deposited on the surface before adding the PAR/HA fi lms. Moreover, the PAR/HA fi lms can be easily further functionalized by embedding antimicrobial peptides, like catestatin (CAT), a natural host defense peptide. This PAR/HA+CAT fi lm proves to be effective as an antimicrobial coating against yeast and fungi and its cytocompatibility is also assessed. Finally, this all-in-one system constitutes an original strategy to limit infl ammation and prevents bacteria, yeast, and fungi infections.