title: Encapsulated living cells on microstructured surfaces.
abstract: The immobilization of cells in defined arrays (cell patterning) is a key step towards cell-based biosensors or other cell-based devices. While cell patterning is usually achieved by modifying the surface on which only the cells should adhere and leaving the cells unmodified, we present here a different approach in which cells are first coated with polyelectrolytes and subsequently immobilized on patterned surfaces. By coating, the cells are protected and their interactions with the substrate are modified such that patterning is simplified. We used microcontact printing of polyelectrolytes to structure surfaces such that regions of opposite charges and the same charge as the cell coating were present and found that we can thus achieve patterning of the coated yeast cells. In accordance with prior work, we find that coating does not kill the cells and coated GFP-expressing cells still function after immobilization, which we checked by fluorescence microscopy.
authors.affiliation: INFM, DIFI, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy, and Department of Interfaces, MPI of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany. krol@fisica.unige.it
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krol
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diaspro
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazza
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Magrassi
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gliozzi
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fery
mesh_terms: D002448:Cell Adhesion; D018914:Cells, Immobilized; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008832:Microchemistry; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D049408:Luminescent Agents; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins