Two-Photon Polymerization Technique for Bio-Applications

We will report on the recently developed two-photon polymerization (2PP) technique for biological applications. 2PP of photosensitive inorganic-organic hybrid polymers (ORMOCERs) is applied for the fabrication of 3D scaffolds, micro-and nanostructures. ORMOCERs have negative resist behaviour and can be used as storage-stable, liquid photopolymerizable resins. When Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser pulses are tightly focused into the volume of this resin (which is transparent in the infrared) they initiate 2PP process transferring liquid into the solid state. This allows the fabrication of any computer-generated 3D structure by direct laser “recording” into the volume of this material. ORMOCERs demonstrate excellent cell adherence and cell growth rate comparable to that of Extracellular matrix. With 2PP technique there are no limits in complexity of the 3D scaffold structures which can be fabricated with the resolution of 100 nm.