Analysis of Light-Controlled Artificial Cell-Cell Adhesions

Abstract

The precise spatial and temporal regulation of cell-cell adhesions is crucial for understanding the underlying biological processes and for assembling multicellular structures in tissue engineering. Traditional approaches have relied on chemical membrane functionalization and regulated gene expression of native cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), but these methods lack the necessary control and can be detrimental to cells. In contrast, engineered photoswitchable cell-cell adhesions offer a reversible and dynamic regulation at a single-cell resolution. This is achieved by expressing different photodimerizers as artificial CAMs on the cell surfaces. Here, we describe a straightforward method for the functional analysis of these photoswitchable cell-cell adhesions in a 3D suspension culture.

Keywords: 3D clustering; Artificial cell adhesions; Bottom-up tissue engineering; Cell–cell adhesions; Extracellular optogenetics; Photoswitchable; Reversibility.