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Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have come up with a laser-beam device capable of altering the size and shape of a block of gel-like material containing growing human or bacterial cells, an innovation that could help scientists understand someday, develop replacement tissues and organs for implants.
"To understand, and for the future engineer, how cells respond to the physical properties of their environment, you want dynamically redefining materials," says Jason Shear, a chemistry professor and co-inventor of the new tool. said in a statement.
The device is capable of selectively modifying the shape and texture of the surface by precisely controlling the contracting portions of the interior of the material, allowing researchers to create specific 3D features on the surface, especially bumps, grooves and rings.
Researchers can also change the location and shape of surface features over time by mimicking the dynamic nature of the environment in which cells live, grow and move.
The "retraction radius" is a near-infrared laser that can be focused on small dots inside the substrate, the material used for cell growth. At the microscopic level, the substrate consists of entangled and intertwined proteins.
When the laser hits a point on the substrate, new chemical bonds are formed between the proteins. This attracts the proteins more closely, which changes the shape of the surface when it is pulled from below.
The laser is scanned through a series of dots in the substrate to create any desired surface contour at any location relative to the targeted cells.
While other methods heat or chemically modify the surface to change the substrate under living cells, damaging living cells or taking off from the surface, the new device allows the formation of any 3D pattern on demand while viewing cells growing with the help of a microscope.
Researchers plan to use this tool to study fundamental scientific questions about cell growth and migration, which could lead to more materials and procedures that can promote wound healing and nerve regrowth, or contribute to growth and implantation of replacement tissues such as skin or heart valves.
"In order for tissues to grow in a dish that will be effective once implanted, we must first understand and then better mimic the environment in which they usually develop in our own body," Shear said.
The device could also be used in basic research on the influence of topography of a surface on the formation of dangerous biofilms. A better understanding of what topographic features prevent the formation of biofilms and how features that change over time could influence the process could lead to biomedical device coatings blocking the formation of biofilms and preventing infections that are difficult to treat.
The study was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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