A material's surface can alter the behaviour of cells sitting on top of it. Researchers looking to make use of this phenomenon have created and screened a wealth of materials with different surface topographies, and identified specific configurations that induce cell growth.

Credit: H. UNADKAT

Jan de Boer at the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, and his colleagues designed chips with 2,176 different topographies. They then grew a type of adult human stem cell on the chips (pictured) and tracked which surface shapes stimulated the cells to multiply or show signs of early bone-cell development.

On the basis of their results, the team developed algorithms that identify which topographic parameters are most likely to trigger certain cell behaviours.

Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 10.1073/pnas.1109861108 (2011)