SCALABLE TOPOGRAPHY-INDUCED CELL ALIGNMENT FOR TISSUE ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS

Abstract

In vitro cell alignment has been shown to be important for dictacting cellular response such as cell morphology, differentiation and function, hence, recreating cell alignment is a very important feature for cell culture of various cell types. Current technologies used to fabricate micro/nanogrooves such as photolithography and nano-imprint lithography are not readily available because they involve costly clean-room equipments, lengthy procedures and highly skilled labor and protocols. To make cell alignment a routine feature of cell culture, commercially available optical media are explored as cost effective, scalable platforms with micro/nano grooves. The optical media can directly support cell growth, alignment and differentiation of neuronal, cardiac and skeletal muscle cells. It can be used as molds for patterning PDMS for both 2D and 3D microfluidic cell culture and in addition can be customized to serve as platforms for cardiotoxicity drug screening.