Nano- and Microscale Chemical and Topographical Patterning of Synthetic Cell Scaffolds: from Hard to Soft Materials

Over the past century, a growing body of work has demonstrated that cellular behavior is impacted by contact with the materials in the surrounding environment, at length scales from centimeters down to nanometers. Soft matter (such as native extracellular matrices) has historically been challenging to pattern with great precision, so early efforts to understand structured cell-material interactions in the 1990s took advantage of hard interfaces, leveraging fabrication methods developed for the electronics industry throughout the 60s and 70s. Ultimately, as it became clear that cells respond to not only topography and chemistry of their environment, but also mechanical properties, patterning methods have been extended to soft materials, although often with lower structural resolution. Here, we provide a historical overview of the development of structured cell scaffold interfaces, highlighting the potential for additional advances in material patterning translated from hard to soft matter.