Printing Functional Protein Nanodots on Soft Elastomers: From Transfer Mechanism to Cell Mechanosensing

Living cells sense the physical and chemical nature of their micro/nano environment with exquisite sensitivity. In this context, there is a growing need to functionalize soft materials with micro/nanoscale biochemical patterns for applications in mechanobiology. This, however, is still an engineering challenge. Here a new method is proposed, where submicronic protein-patterns are first formed on glass and are then printed on to an elastomer. The degree of transfer is shown to be governed mainly by hydrophobic interactions and to be influenced by grafting an appropriate fluorophore onto the core protein of interest. The transfer mechanism is probed by measuring the forces of adhesion/cohesion using atomic force microscopy. The transfer of functional arrays of dots with size down to about 400 nm, on elastomers with stiffness ranging from 3 kPa to 7 MPa, is demonstrated. Pilot studies on adhesion of T lymphocytes on such soft patterned substrates are reported.