Creating particulate microstructures for two- and three-dimensional cell patterning

This paper reports a unique method of fabricating microstructures made up of polymeric microparticles. By combining the technical power of both electrospray and microfabrication, particulate microstructures with controlled dimensions and spatial positions are created. Such structures have an immediate use in live cell patterning, where cells can be confined within desired regions on planar and curved surfaces, and in three-dimensional (3D) porous scaffolds. This study will help the development of parallel on-chip cell assays for miniaturized total analysis.