Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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CHAPTER 10
High Throughput Techniques
for the Investigation of
Cell-Material Interactions
LAUREN R. CLEMENTS,
a
HELMUT THISSEN
b
AND
NICOLAS H. VOELCKER*
c
a
School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford
Park, 5042 SA, Australia;
b
CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering,
Bayview Avenue, Clayton, 3168 VIC, Australia;
c
Mawson Institute,
University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, 5095 SA, Australia
*Email: nico.voelcker@unisa.edu.au
.
10.1 Introduction
Understanding cell-material interactions is of fundamental importance for
many biomedical applications. Cells and living tissue often come into direct
contact with non-natural materials and the nature of the surface has been
shown to have a direct influence on the cellular response.
1-3
Many surface
properties including topography,
4,5
elasticity,
6
surface chemistry,
7
wett-
ability
8,9
and the presence of chemical functional groups or biological sig-
nals
10,11
have been demonstrated to influence the cellular response.
1,2
Considerable attention has been directed towards the surface modification
of substrates to either enhance or minimise cellular attachment as well as
improving cell metabolism and function.
12,13
In many instances, cells do not
react to the substrates themselves, but rather to adsorbed or surface bound
biomolecules. The use of proteins, such as fibronectin (Fn), collagen, and
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