ECM Micropatterned Polyacrylamide Gels for High Resolution Imaging of Cardiomyocytes

This work aims to generate cell-culture amenable polyacrylamide (PA) gel substrates with extracellular matrix (ECM) micropatterns to control cellular environments for light-based live-cell studies. PA gels enable tunable stiffness, allowing precise control of mechanical conditions. Micropatterning further regulates cell position, size, and shape using a contactless, photomasked technique pioneered by the Hanein Lab and colleagues (DOI:10.1088/1361-6439/ab419a, doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35409-9). This method creates ECM “islands” within biopassive regions, confining cells to defined geometries. Combining these approaches provides a modular platform to study mechanobiology in cardiomyocytes. Our experiment compares cells in physiological (10 kPa) and disease-like (32 kPa) environments to evaluate how mechanical cues influence cellular structure and function. This work establishes a tunable system for studying cardiomyocytes under conditions compatible with nanoscale imaging.