Large area protein patterning reveals nanoscale control of focal adhesion development.

Focal adhesion development in cells adherent to surface bound fibronectin presented as 200, 500, or 1000 nm diameter circular patches or as homogeneous controls is studied by fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. Fundamental cellular processes such as adhesion, spreading, focal adhesion and stress fiber formation are shown to be dependent on the spatial distribution of ligands at this scale. Large area samples enable the study of whole cell populations and opens for new potential applications.