Morphogen Gradient Creation and Bio-modified Surfaces for Rebuilding a Stem Cell Microenvironment

Recreation of a microenvironment where stem cells maintain pluripotency or initiate differentiation is crucial especially when they are used for therapeutic needs. In this thesis, to generate more in vivo like environments, the application of soluble factors such as morphogen gradients was realized by microfluidic system and cadherin-anchored artificial substrates were generated for the cellular contact to the microenvironment by atomic force microscope based nanografting.