SEM images of leaves and insect wings utilised in the study
Comparing topologies in nature to manmade surface to create bioactive materials
Surface texture (topography) can be used to endow biomaterials with bioactive properties. The variety of topologies available is immense and such large number of possible designs makes it challenging to find the optimal surface structure to induce a specific cell response. Currently, the TopoChip platform is the largest collection of topographies with 2176 which were designed in silico microtopographies. Inspired by the diversity of natural surfaces, the authors of a recently published article in Advanced Materials, investigated a range of topologies based on natural surfaces such as the red rose. To this end, 26 plant and insect surfaces, were replicated in polystyrene and the resulting cellular responses were assessed leading to discovery of routes to bacterial colonication and stem cell attachment and phenotype control.
The full article can be read in the journal Advanced Materials.
Expanding Biomaterial Surface Topographical Design Space through Natural Surface Reproduction
Steven Vermeulen, Floris Honig, Aliaksei Vasilevich, Nadia Roumans, Manuel Romero, Aysegul Dede Eren, Urnaa Tuvshindorj, Morgan Alexander, Aurélie Carlier, Paul Williams, Jorge Uquillas, Jan de Boer.
Advanced Materials 2021, 200102084
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202102084
Posted on Tuesday 6th July 2021