Abstract: In this work, an epitope imprinting strategy was successfully employed to dynamically display bioactive ligands on the material interface. An imprinted surface was initially designed to exhibit specific affinity towards a short peptide (i.e., the epitope). This surface was subsequently used to anchor an epitope-tagged cell adhesive peptide ligand (RGD: Arg-Gly-Asp). Owing to reversible epitope binding affinity, both ligand presentation and thereby cell adhesion could be controlled. Compared to current strategies for fabrication of dynamic biointerfaces, e.g., reversible covalent or host-guest chemistry, such a molecularly tunable dynamic system based on surface imprinting process may unlock new applications in in-situ cell biology, diagnostics and regenerative medicine
Author keywords: Molecular imprinting, dynamic biointerface, cell adhesion, epitope, cell release