Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is an important material with promising applications in biomedical engineering. The objective of this research is to fabricate mechanically patterned PDMS as a substrate to study cell mechanotaxis, which refers to the phenomenon that cells migrate to stiffer regions on a substrate where a stiffness gradient is present. Photo-initiated thiol-ene chemistry using thiol- and vinyl-functionalized PDMS prepolymers allows us to impart temporal and spatial control of Young's moduli across PDMS substrates. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to characterize surface modulus of crosslinked PDMS substrates using various mechanical models. The Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) model appears to be the one that results in the best match between surface and bulk moduli. The effect of hydrophilization treatment of the PDMS substrates on surface modulus will also be evaluated by AFM force measurements.

Design, fabrication, and characterization of mechanically patterned polydimethylsiloxane substrates using thiol-ene chemistry

245th National Meeting (2013)

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