Inkjet Printing of Silk Nest Arrays for Cell Hosting.

An inkjet printing approach is presentedfor the facile fabricationof microscopic arrays of biocompatible silk “nests”capable of hosting live cells for prospective biosensors. The patterningof silk fibroin nests were constructed by the layer-by-layer (LbL)assembly of silk polyelectrolytes chemically modified with poly-(l-lysine) and poly-(l-glutamic acid) side chains. Theinkjet-printed silk circular regions with a characteristic “nest”shape had diameters of 70–100 μm and a thickness severalhundred nanometers were stabilized by ionic pairing and by the formationof the silk II crystalline secondary structure. These “locked-in”silk nests remained anchored to the substrate during incubation incell growth media to provide a biotemplated platform for printing-in,immobilization, encapsulation and growth of cells. The process ofinkjet-assisted printing is versatile and can be applied on any typeof substrate, including rigid and flexible, with scalability and facileformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]