(261e) Biocompatible Transfer of Nano- and Micropatterns for Three-Dimensional Nano-Bio Interfaces

Interfacing synthetic materials with soft biological systems at the nano- and microscale has been a longstanding engineering challenge. Achieving biointerfaces that conform to the unconventional three-dimensional shapes of cells and tissues may allow the development of sensors, electrode arrays, and circuits with high spatiotemporal resolution as well as the location-specific manipulation of cells. Current progress on wearable electronics and micro-electromechanical systems has enabled the fabrication of devices with nanoscale features, including integrated circuits, sensors, and transistors, on flexible substrates. However, these methods often use non-biocompatible materials and harsh processing conditions that limit their application to cells and tissues. Here, we discuss a facile, cell-compatible process for transferring nano- to microscale gold patterns on biological surfaces with high yield. Nanoimprint lithography and photolithography offer cost-effective and high throughput approaches to thin film device fabrication by patterning multiple devices in parallel with nanoscale resolution. This fabrication method, followed by a hydrogel-based transfer process, self-assembly of cysteamine monolayers, and bioconjugation, allowed the precise patterning of gold nanowires and nanodots on dynamic embryonic mouse fibroblast cells (NIH/3T3-GFP) with irregular shapes. Both nanowires and nanodots showed strong adherence to NIH/3T3-GFP during migration as well as high cell viability of over 97%. This novel transfer process demonstrates the potential to design a wide variety of nano- and micropatterns on nonlinear surfaces to advance fields of bioelectronics, biosensing, and tissue engineering.