Cellular complexity captured in durable silica biocomposites

Tissue-derived cultured cells exhibit a remarkable range of morphological features in vitro, depending on phenotypic expression and environmental interactions. Translation of these cellular architectures into inorganic materials would provide routes to generate hierarchical nanomaterials with stabil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2012-10, Vol.109 (43), p.17336-17341
Main Authors: Kaehr, Bryan, Townson, Jason L, Kalinich, Robin M, Awad, Yasmine H, Swartzentruber, B. S, Dunphy, Darren R, Brinker, C. Jeffrey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Architecture
biocomposites
Biological Sciences
carbon
Cell culture
Cell lines
Cells, Cultured
CHO cells
Cultured cells
Diatoms
Drying
Genotype & phenotype
Lipids
Mammals
Materials
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Nanomaterials
Nanotechnology
P branes
Physical Sciences
pyrolysis
Silica
Silicon Dioxide
temperature
Tissue Scaffolds
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Summary:Tissue-derived cultured cells exhibit a remarkable range of morphological features in vitro, depending on phenotypic expression and environmental interactions. Translation of these cellular architectures into inorganic materials would provide routes to generate hierarchical nanomaterials with stabilized structures and functions. Here, we describe the fabrication of cell/silica composites (CSCs) and their conversion to silica replicas using mammalian cells as scaffolds to direct complex structure formation. Under mildly acidic solution conditions, silica deposition is restricted to the molecularly crowded cellular template. Inter- and intracellular heterogeneity from the nano- to macroscale is captured and dimensionally preserved in CSCs following drying and subjection to extreme temperatures allowing, for instance, size and shape preserving pyrolysis of cellular architectures to form conductive carbon replicas. The structural and behavioral malleability of the starting material (cultured cells) provides opportunities to develop robust and economical biocomposites with programmed structures and functions.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1205816109