Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Vic, 3052, Australia.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, 22 Alliance Lane, Clayton, Vic, 3168, Australia.
J Nanobiotechnology. 2021 Feb 17;19(1):51. doi: 10.1186/s12951-021-00795-7.
Programmable nano-bio interfaces driven by tuneable vertically configured nanostructures have recently emerged as a powerful tool for cellular manipulations and interrogations. Such interfaces have strong potential for ground-breaking advances, particularly in cellular nanobiotechnology and mechanobiology. However, the opaque nature of many nanostructured surfaces makes non-destructive, live-cell characterization of cellular behavior on vertically aligned nanostructures challenging to observe. Here, a new nanofabrication route is proposed that enables harvesting of vertically aligned silicon (Si) nanowires and their subsequent transfer onto an optically transparent substrate, with high efficiency and without artefacts. We demonstrate the potential of this route for efficient live-cell phase contrast imaging and subsequent characterization of cells growing on vertically aligned Si nanowires. This approach provides the first opportunity to understand dynamic cellular responses to a cell-nanowire interface, and thus has the potential to inform the design of future nanoscale cellular manipulation technologies.
可编程纳米生物界面由可调谐的垂直结构纳米结构驱动，最近已成为细胞操作和检测的有力工具。这种界面具有突破性进展的强大潜力，特别是在细胞纳米生物技术和机械生物学方面。然而，许多纳米结构表面的不透明性质使得对垂直排列纳米结构上的细胞行为进行非破坏性、活细胞特性描述变得具有挑战性。在这里，提出了一种新的纳米制造途径，能够高效地收获垂直排列的硅（Si）纳米线，并将其随后转移到光学透明的衬底上，而不会产生伪影。我们展示了该方法在高效活细胞相差成像以及随后对垂直排列的 Si 纳米线上生长的细胞进行特性描述方面的潜力。该方法首次提供了理解细胞对细胞-纳米线界面的动态响应的机会，因此有可能为未来的纳米级细胞操作技术的设计提供信息。
