Inkjet printing of silk nest arrays for cell hosting

An inkjet printing approach is presented for the facile fabrication of microscopic arrays of biocompatible silk "nests" capable of hosting live cells for prospective biosensors. The patterning of silk fibroin nests were constructed by the layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of silk polyelectrolytes chemically modified with poly-(l-lysine) and poly-(l-glutamic acid) side chains. The inkjet-printed silk circular regions with a characteristic "nest" shape had diameters of 70-100 μm and a thickness several hundred nanometers were stabilized by ionic pairing and by the formation of the silk II crystalline secondary structure. These "locked-in" silk nests remained anchored to the substrate during incubation in cell growth media to provide a biotemplated platform for printing-in, immobilization, encapsulation and growth of cells. The process of inkjet-assisted printing is versatile and can be applied on any type of substrate, including rigid and flexible, with scalability and facile formation.