Fabrication of dynamic self-assembled monolayers for cell migration and adhesion studies

How cells interact with the extracellular matrix (ECM) is important for a number of fundamental -processes in cell biology. However, the ECM is highly complex and in order to simplify the matrix for cell biological studies, it has been modeled with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiolates on gold substrates. In this chapter, we outline procedures to create dynamic surfaces by functionalizing SAMs. SAMs based on quinone, oxyamine, and alcohol-terminated thiols were used to immobilize cell adhesive peptides with spatial control. Cells were seeded to these surfaces to provide cell co-culture -patterns suitable for biological studies.