Biological functionalization and surface micropatterning of polyacrylamide hydrogels

A micropatterning and image processing approach to simplify measurement of cellular traction forces

“…The ability to reliably micropattern proteins onto the surface of soft hydrogels could dramatically improve upon some limitations of traditional traction measurements. Microcontact printing directly onto soft PAA hydrogels has been described, but this process is challenging and difficult to reproduce [22-24]. Instead, indirect patterning onto a hard surface and transferring onto the hydrogel [22] could potentially render micron-sized pattern markers in defined grids with fluorescently tagged proteins that would make it possible to use the pattern to generate traction force measurements in real time.…”

The immobilization of proteins on biodegradable polymer fibers via click chemistry

“…Many potential and interesting applications can be obtained when bioactive macromolecules are properly immobilized on solid surfaces with their activity preserved [1], in many medical research fields, such as biosensor chips [2], microarrays [3], implantable medical devices [4] and purification of biochemical agents. Current immobilization methods rely most on adsorption, biotin-avidin conjugation, and other biosynthetic media, among which the biotin-avidin (or streptavidin) system is most extensively used nowadays because it is the strongest non-covalent interaction found in the nature (binding constant in the order of 10 13 -10 15 M À1 ) [5].…”

“… 1. H NMR (CDCl 3 , TMS): d ¼ 1.3 (s, 3 H, -CH 3MPC ), 1.56 (t, 3 H, -CH 3PLA ), 2.5 (t, 1 H, -CH 2 -CCH), 4.2-4.5 (s, 4 H, -O-CH 2 -C(CH 3 )-CH 2 -O-), 4.7 (m, 2 H, -CH 2 -CCH), IR (film): 1754 (n C ¼ O ), 3285 (n CCÀH ) cm À1 .…”

Ultrathin Coatings with Change in Reactivity over Time Enable Functional In Vitro Networks Of Insect Neurons

“…[6] Most attempts to covalently link patterned cell adhesive molecules to substrates with a nonadhesive background rely on multistep procedures. [5,7,8] Microfabrication techniques, such as photolithography, ink-jet technology, microfluidics, and microcontact printing (mCP), have been used for generating patterns of cells on artificial substrates. [9,10] mCP is an especially valuable technique for surface pattern generation [11,12] owing to freedom in geometric pattern design, down to the nanometer scale, and diversity in solutions that can be used as ''ink''.…”