Both human embryonic stem (hES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells can self-renew indefinitely in culture, however current methods to clonally grow them are inefficient and poorly-defined for genetic manipulation and therapeutic purposes. Here we develop the first chemically-defined, xeno-free, feeder-free synthetic substrates to support robust self-renewal of fully-dissociated hES and hiPS cells. Materials properties including wettability, surface topography, surface chemistry and indentation elastic modulus of all polymeric substrates were quantified using high-throughput methods to develop structure/function relationships between materials properties and biological performance. These analyses show that optimal hES cell substrates are generated from monomers with high acrylate content, have a moderate wettability, and employ integrin αvβ3 and αvβ5 engagement with adsorbed vitronectin to promote colony formation. The structure/function methodology employed herein provides a general framework for the combinatorial development of synthetic substrates for stem cell culture.

Bacterial attachment and subsequent biofilm formation pose key challenges to the optimal performance of medical devices. In this study, we determined the attachment of selected bacterial species to hundreds of polymeric materials in a high-throughput microarray format. Using this method, we identified a group of structurally related materials comprising ester and cyclic hydrocarbon moieties that substantially reduced the attachment of pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli). Coating silicone with these 'hit' materials achieved up to a 30-fold (96.7%) reduction in the surface area covered by bacteria compared with a commercial silver hydrogel coating in vitro, and the same material coatings were effective at reducing bacterial attachment in vivo in a mouse implant infection model. These polymers represent a class of materials that reduce the attachment of bacteria that could not have been predicted to have this property from the current understanding of bacteriasurface interactions.

21We have used three dimensional (3D) extrusion printing to manufacture a multi-active solid dosage

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A new class of bacteria‐attachment‐resistant materials is discovered using a multi‐generation polymer microarray methodology that reduces bacterial attachment by up to 99.3% compared with a leading commercially available silver hydrogel anti‐bacterial material. The coverage of three bacterial species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and uropathogenic Escherichia coli is assessed.