Srivatsan Kidambi
srivatsan.kidambi(at)gmail.com
Hometown: Chennai, India
Undergraduate Institution:
University of Madras, India
Interests: Reading, tennis, gym.
Project title: Engineering Invitro cellular microenvironment using polyelectrolyte multilayer films to control cell adhesion and for drug delivery applications
Project Description: I developed highly customizable
polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) thin films to engineer in vitro cellular
microenvironments to control cell adhesion and for drug delivery
applications. PEM films were engineered to control the adhesion of primary
hepatocytes and primary neurons without the aid of adhesive
proteins/ligands. The differential cell attachment and spreading of
primary hepatocytes and neurons on poly(diallyldimethylammoniumchloride)
(PDAC) and sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) surfaces was capitalized to make
patterned co-cultures of primary hepatocytes/fibroblasts and primary
neurons /astrocytes on the PEM surfaces. In addition, I developed
self-assembled monolayer (SAM) patterns of m-d-poly(ethylene glycol)
(m-dPEG) acid molecules onto PEMs. The created m-dPEG acid monolayer
patterns on PEMs acted as resistive templates, and thus prevented further
deposits of consecutive poly(anion)/poly(cation) pairs of charged
particles and resulted in the formation of three-dimensional (3-D)
patterned PEM films or selective particle depositions atop the original
multilayer thin films. These new patterned and structured surfaces have
potential applications in microelectronic devices and electro-optical and
biochemical sensors. The PEG patterns developed are tunable at certain
salt conditions and be removed from the PEM surface without affecting the
PEM layers underneath the patterns. These removable surfaces provide an
alternative method to form patterns of multiple particles, proteins and
cells. This new approach provides an environmentally friendly and
biocompatible route to designing versatile salt tunable surfaces. Finally,
I illustrated the use of PEM films to engineer aptamer and siRNA based
drug delivery systems.
PI: Christina Chan and Ilsoon Lee