Micropatterning is the art of

miniaturisation Miniaturization (British English, Br.Eng.: ''miniaturisation'') is the trend to manufacture ever-smaller mechanical, optical, and electronic products and devices. Examples include miniaturization of mobile phones, computers and vehicle engine do ...

patterns A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...

. Especially used for

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

, it has recently become a standard in

biomaterials A biomaterial is a substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose – either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one. The corresponding f ...

engineering and for fundamental research on

cellular biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the Anatomy, structure, Physiology, function, and behavior of cell (biology), cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life th ...

by mean of

soft lithography In technology, soft lithography is a family of techniques for fabricating or Replication (disambiguation), replicating structures using "elastomeric stamps, molds, and conformable photomasks". It is called "soft" because it uses elastomeric mate ...

. It generally uses

photolithography Photolithography (also known as optical lithography) is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer. The process begins with a photosensiti ...

methods but many techniques have been developed. In

, micropatterns can be used to control the geometry of adhesion and substrate rigidity. This tool helped scientists to discover how the environment influences processes such as the orientation of the cell division axis, organelle positioning, cytoskeleton rearrangement cell differentiation and directionality of cell migration. Micropatterns can be made on a wide range of substrates, from

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

polyacrylamide Polyacrylamide (abbreviated as PAM or pAAM) is a polymer with the formula (-CH2CHCONH2-). It has a linear-chain structure. PAM is highly water-absorbent, forming a soft gel when hydrated. In 2008, an estimated 750,000,000 kg were produced, ...

and

polydimethylsiloxane Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), also known as dimethylpolysiloxane or dimethicone, is a silicone polymer with a wide variety of uses, from cosmetics to industrial lubrication and passive daytime radiative cooling. PDMS is particularly known for its ...

(PDMS). The

and PDMS in particular come into handy because they let scientists specifically regulate the stiffness of the substrate, and they allow researchers to measure cellular forces ( traction force microscopy). Advanced custom micropatterning allow precise and relatively rapid experiments controlling cell adhesion, cell migration, guidance, 3D confinement and microfabrication of microstructured chips. Using advanced tools, protein patterns can be produced in virtually unlimited numbers (2D/ 3D shapes and volumes). Nanopatterning of proteins has been achieved through using top-down lithography techniques.

Aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

micropatterning for biomaterials uses spray microscopic characteristics to obtain semi-random patterns particularly well adapted for biomaterials.

References

External links

Team of Matthieu Piel working a lot with micropatterns and inventing new techniques

Website of Manuel Théry with numerous papers on micropatterning

Linked companies

* Alvéole Lab
4Dcell

Cytoo

Innopsys

Forcyte Biotechnologies
Lithography (microfabrication) Microtechnology {{Tech-stub