title: Engineering the extracellular environment: Strategies for building 2D and 3D cellular structures.
abstract: Cell fate is regulated by extracellular environmental signals. Receptor specific interaction of the cell with proteins, glycans, soluble factors as well as neighboring cells can steer cells towards proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis or migration. In this review, approaches to build cellular structures by engineering aspects of the extracellular environment are described. These methods include non-specific modifications to control the wettability and stiffness of surfaces using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) as well as methods where the temporal activation and spatial distribution of adhesion ligands is controlled. Building on these techniques, construction of two-dimensional cell sheets using temperature sensitive polymers or electrochemical dissolution is described together with current applications of these grafts in the clinical arena. Finally, methods to pattern cells in three-dimensions as well as to functionalize the 3D environment with biologic motifs take us one step closer to being able to engineer multicellular tissues and organs.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Orane
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guillame-Gentil
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Semenov
authors.forename: Ana Sala
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Roca
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Groth
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zahn
authors.forename: Janos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vörös
authors.forename: Marcy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zenobi-Wong
mesh_terms: D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D022082:Cellular Structures / Q000737:chemistry; D004573:Electrolytes; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013696:Temperature; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D006023:Glycoproteins; D011108:Polymers