A micropatterned microfluidic device for engineering soluble and tethered environmental cues in cell culture

We report a facile technique to integrate micropatterns of any shape within microfluidic devices. The technique involves protecting the region of a glass surface printed with micropatterns during plasma treatment, allowing the unprotected regions to be bonded to PDMS. In this manner, the micropatterned region is incorporated within a PDMS-based microfluidic device. Using a gradient-generating microfluidic device, we show that micropatterns of complex shapes can be aligned to spatial gradients in a soluble factor.