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Patterning

Cells nourished by nanodrops

Delivering biomolecules to living cells in a spatially defined way in vitro could help us to understand more in vivo processes. Using an aqueous two-phase system enables the formation of patterns at the nanolitre scale that can serve as a confined reagent-delivery system for mammalian cells.

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Figure 1: Patterning of reagents on cells using immiscible solutions.
Figure 2: Secretions from patterned cells diffuse into one another.

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Healy, K. Cells nourished by nanodrops. Nature Mater 8, 700–702 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2524

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