MICROFABRICATION OF TITANIUM DIBORIDE PATTERNED ON SILICON SUBSTRATES FOR MONO- AND CO-CULTURE OF ENDOTHELIAL AND MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS

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2014-05

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Abstract

Transplantation of Islet of Langerhans is a treatment used in Diabetes Type I with an objective to introduce beta cells for secretion of insulin for controlling the glucose level in the body. Our project is focused on in vitro culturing of endothelial cells and mesenchymal cells on biocompatible titanium diboride substrates patterned as circles and lines organized as arrays to induce interaction of these layers with the Islets of Langerhans for their in vitro prolonged viability. Our designed BIOMEMS device evaluates the influence of substrate material properties such as mechanical, chemical and electrical using 2D sheet based configurations. The device has matrices of different geometries, to determine factors that affect cell growth and orientation. With the design of patterned geometries on the titanium diboride wafers, modification of the surface properties and biocompatible material usage, we can focus on cell adhesion, growth and orientation. Titanium diboride material was characterized for surface composition, surface roughness, hardness, Young’s modulus and wettability.

This BioMEMS device mimics native cellular microenvironment, in terms of topology that provides mechanical support and is expected to regulate the cellular activities such as adhesion, adhesion and viability. Our experiments demonstrated TiB2 as a probable material showing biocompatibility and three weeks long viability of cells and islets. Silicon integrated circuit (IC) and MEMS technology were used to make the substrates and confocal microscopy on fluorescent dyes was used for imaging the endothelial cell (EC) and islet viability.

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TItanium diboride, XPS, AFM, Young's modulus, HUVEC, MSC, Islet

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