Azo polymers for photo-reversible bio-surfaces

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Cell interactions on surfaces have attracted much recent attention from many materials chemists and physicists, since powerful tools are now available to probe these delicate structures in their native environment at the smallest scales, and many questions can now be framed in chemical terms. Understanding the surface conditions that permit cells to live and function, then permits biomedical engineering advances in regenerative medicine, and tissue repair and replacement. In addition to the chemistry of molecular groups exposed on a surface to a cell, growing cells are also very sensitive to the softness of the surface material, the thickness, the water content, - or + charge, and ion concentrations and gradients. In general, the more 'biological' the artificial surface can be made to appear (wet, soft, charged, warm, and rich in ions and specific functional groups), the more biocompatible it will be with respect to cell adhesion, survival, and function. In order to control the biological interface then, one needs to be able both to measure all of these properties in situ in a true biological environment, and to have the power to manipulate and tune these properties over a wide range with simple preparation protocols.