Photonic nanostructures for potential applications in cell biology

We describe the formation of laser-induced photonic nanostructures at polymer surfaces, which can be used for applications in cell biology. We demonstrate that ripple structures are able to control the adhesion, alignment and migration of living biological cells cultured thereon. In order to study primary cell cultures there is a need to both sort cells and then perform biological assays, e.g., for introduction of genetically active material into cells. The latter process is known as cell transfection, which can be performed by electroporation at photochemically modified polymer surfaces providing good adhesion of attached cells. This is demonstrated also in the current paper. Cell sorting can readily be achieved by targeting cell specific membrane proteins with surface immobilized antibodies. Preliminary results on selective antibody immobilization at photochemically modified polymer surfaces for selective cell sorting are presented here. Finally, we discuss the potential of polymer surfaces with photonic nanostructures for enhanced sorting selectivity and better transfection efficiency.