Engineering biomaterials to control cell function

Understanding the interactions between cells and materials is important for the development of new materials for biological applications(1). To study cell biology, cells are typically removed from their host organism and cultured on a plastic culture dish - an environment unlike their natural, physiological environment(2). Thus, cells tend to lose many of their normal functions and often dedifferentiate for reasons that are not well understood. Recognizing the microenvironmental cues that affect cellular phenotype and function will contribute to our general understanding of cells, as well as provide direct approaches to engineer artificial tissue for medical applications(3,4).