Thermoresponsive micropatterned substrates for single cell studies
  We describe the design of micropatterned surfaces for single cell studies, based on thermoresponsive polymer brushes. We show that brushes made of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) grafted at high surface density display excellent protein and cell anti-adhesive properties. Such brushes are readily patterned at the micron scale via deep UV photolithography. A proper choice of the adhesive pattern shapes, combined with the temperature-dependent swelling properties of PNIPAM, allow us to use the polymer brush as a microactuator which induces cell detachment when the temperature is reduced below 32degC. 
Kalpana Mandal (LIPhy), Martial Balland (LIPhy), Lionel Bureau (LIPhy)
cond-mat.soft