Light-reconfigurable substrate for cell cultures

L-Cell is a method for robust, reconfigurable control of surface topography, based on creating reversible light-induced surface structures onto azobenzene-containing bilayers.

These light-reconfigurable substrates allow free-form topographical patterns to be created and subsequently erased over many cycles on a biocompatible cell culture substrate, even when the cells are already growing on the substrate.

L-Cell aims at mimicking more closely the dynamic conditions in human body, which regulate many physiological and pathological processes, such as tissue morphogenesis, healing, and tumour growth.

Our non-invasive solution is important for definition of chrono-programmes e.g. cell differentiation, stem cell phenotype harvesting, tissue regeneration and triggering cell directional migration.

The bilayer structure allows for easy chemical modification of the surface, ensuring biocompatibility and further functionalization, and fully supporting existing protein deposition techniques.

L-Cell reconfigurable light-responsive petri dishes can be used as drop-in solution, enabling new, unique biological investigations on cell dynamics to be conducted.

Besides, the growing need to reduce animal testing in drug screening, toxicology, and research has increased the demand for innovative cell culture solutions that recapitulate the complexity of cell dynamics in a controllable, cost-effective way, without sacrificing their clinical relevance. For all these reasons, L-Cell offers new opportunities as an innovative tool for a wealth of potential targets.