The Galapagos Chip Platform for High ‐Throughput Screening of Cell Adhesive Chemical Micropatterns

A high-throughput screening platform called “Galapagos chip” is developed for screening geometrical aspects of cell-extracellular matrix interaction. The platform is designed in silico and produced by a versatile surface functionalization method. The chip contains 2147 subcellular binary RGD/polyethylene glycol micropatterns, allowing for systematic studies of cell-pattern interactions based on cell morphology and nuclear translocation of the YAP protein. AbstractIn vivo cells reside in a complex extracellular matrix (ECM) that presents spatially distributed biochemical and ‑physical cues at the nano- to micrometer scales. Chemical micropatterning is successfully used to generate adhesive islands to control where and how cells attach and restore cues of the ECM in vitro. Although chemical micropatterning has become a powerful tool to study cell–material interaction s, only a fraction of the possible micropattern designs was covered so far, leaving many other possible designs still unexplored. Here, a high-throughput screening platform called “Galapagos chip” is developed. It contains a library of 2176 distinct subcellular chemical patterns created using ma thematical algorithms and a straightforward UV-induced two-step surface modification. This approach enables the immobilization of ligands in geometrically defined regions onto cell culture substrates. To validate the system, binary RGD/polyethylene glycol patterns are prepared on which human mesench ymal stem ce...
Source: Small - Category: Nanotechnology Authors: Tags: Research Article Source Type: research