 UW-Madison MRSEC |
A Combinatorial Approach to Screening Surfaces that Promote Cell Proliferation and Differentiation |
Principal Investigator:
Laura Kiessling - kiessling@chem.wisc.edu
| Engineered surfaces presenting immobilized ligands can mimic signals initiated by the adherence of a cell to soluble factors, other cells, or the extracellular matrix (ECM). The ability to vary and control surface presentation of binding epitopes will lead to a deeper understanding of such processes as organ development, cellular migration, and tumor metastasis. The presentation of many array elements allows for rapid screening of many surfaces at the same time under the same conditions. We have developed a method for the fabrication of arrays of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkane thiols (ATs) on gold to identify surfaces for cell adherence. A fluorinated SAM is used as the background, as it shares the dual properties of cytophobicity (resists cell attachment) and solvophobicity (resists spot spreading). We demonstrate that this method can be used to generate arrays of SAMs containing mixtures of ATs and peptide-terminated ATs. Multiple cell types exhibit differential and specific binding to these surfaces. Pluripotent human embryonic stem cells were proliferated on surfaces fabricated by this technology. |
