Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Innate immune cell instruction using micron-scale 3D objects of varied architecture and polymer chemistry: The ChemoArchiChip

Matthew Vassey, Le Ma, Lisa Kämmerling, Chidimma Mbadugha, Gustavo F. Trindade, Grazziela P. Figueredo, Francesco Pappalardo, Jason Hutchinson, Robert Markus, Seema Rajani, Qin Hu, David A. Winkler, Derek J. Irvine, Richard Hague, Amir M. Ghaemmaghami, Ricky Wildman, Morgan R. Alexander

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

To design effective immunomodulatory implants, innate immune cell interactions at the surface of biomaterials need to be controlled and understood. The architectural design freedom of two-photon polymerization is used to produce arrays of surface-mounted, geometrically diverse 3D polymer objects. This reveals the importance of the interplay between architecture and materials chemistry in determining human macrophage fate in vitro. The ChemoArchiChip identifies key structure-function relationships and design rules from machine learning models to build a mechanistic understanding of cell attachment and polarization. Object shape, vertex/cone angle, and size are key drivers of attachment. Particular shapes are found to heavily modulate pro- or anti-inflammatory cell polarization, while triangular pyramids drastically reduce or even eliminate attachment. Caveola-dependent endocytosis is a principal mechanism by which cells respond to objects with sharp points; i.e., low vertex/cone angles. The discovery of these putative design rules points to surfaces decorated with architectures to augment implant performance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)887-906
Number of pages20
JournalMatter
Volume6
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2023

Keywords

  • 2-photon polymerization
  • 3D geometries
  • biomaterials
  • immune modulation
  • macrophages
  • MAP1: Discovery

Cite this