MICROENVIRONMENTS FOR STUDY OF MYOGENESIS SPATIAL ORGANIZATION AND ENDOTHELIAL CELL SMALL MESSENGER SIGNALING

In complex organisms, the combined actions of multiple cells enable higher order functions while using only the building blocks of individual cells. Understanding the regulation of groups of cells is thus critical in order to uncover how single cells combine to produce higher levels of functionality. One principle input which regulates cell behavior is the surrounding cellular environment, many aspects of which are inherently nano- or microscale in nature. A system has therefore been developed which can replicate important micro- and nanoscale aspects of the cellular environment by providing inputs to groups of cells which mimic those found physiologically. This has been accomplished by developing a cell sensitive plasma surface patterning technique termed plasma lithography that produces area selective functional group modification to provide cell attachment guidance at sizes ranging from 100 nm to millimeters. This surface patterning system has further been coupled with additional inputs such as chemical and mechanical stimulation in order to investigate several areas where higher order functionality is observed based upon interactions of single cells. These investigations include study of an autocatalytic feedback mechanism which is involved in muscle formation and the behavior of small messenger signaling in networks of vascular cells