Wafer-Scale Protein Patterning Of Hydrogel Devices

Precise tuning of cellular microenvironments is key for cellular research; especially in therapeutics. Such tuning can be achieved with protein patterning, but it requires significant cleanroom resources and photolithography expertise. This presents an obstacle for researchers in various therapeutic areas, including cardiac medicine, where the study of cardiomyocytes (CMs) is critical. Ideally, researchers could isolate CMs from patients, but the cells do not regenerate and are difficult to culture in vitro. Animal models provide a substitute, but their relevance to human biologics is limited. Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived CMs (hiPSC-CMs) are an unlimited cell source and a promising in vitro model for cardiac research, but they require protein patterning to select appropriate cells. Improving the accessibility of protein patterning would mark a substantial step forward in cardiac disease research among other fields requiring precisely tuned cellular microenvironments.