M. Humenik^1* C. Heinritz¹, Z. Lamberger¹, K. Kocourková², A. Minařík<sup>2

1</sup> Department of Biomaterials, Faculty of Engineering Science, Universität Bayreuth, Prof.-Rüdiger-Bormann.Str. 1, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany, ² Department of Physics and Materials Engineering, Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Vavrečkova 275, 760 01 Zlín, Czech Republic
*martin.humenik@bm.uni.bayreuth.de

Recently, we conjugated DNA-aptamers to the recombinant spider silk protein and assembled onto spider silk coated surfaces. The immobilized fibril-based networks revealed swelling and softening properties of nanohydrogels whereas the incorporated aptamers endowed an enzyme binding function. The DNA-nanofibril networks were established also in a specific cell binding. For this, a mild lipid-DNA incorporation into cell membrane was employed. Based on the complementarity of the nucleic acids, highly specific DNA-assisted immobilization of the cells on the nanohydrogels with tuneable cell densities was possible. In addition, we developed a photolithography-based patterning of arbitrarily shaped microwells, which served to spatially define the formation of the nanohydrogels. After detaching the photoresist, DNA-assisted immobilization of the Jurkat cells on the nanohydrogel microstructures was achieved with high fidelity.