Direct laser writing of 3D protein structures with nanoscale feature sizes

Abstract

We report preliminary results of three-dimensional (3D) protein structures with nanoscale feature sizes fabricated by two-photon direct laser writing (DLW). For this fabrication technology, we combine the established DLW technology with previously reported 3D protein structure fabrication by photosensitized crosslinking. We demonstrate the fabrication of 2D and 3D protein structures with nm-sized features. We report dependency of line height and independency of line width on writing parameters within the investigated range. Further, we demonstrate the biocompatibility of protein structures with nanoscale features to NIH/3T3 fibroblasts. This fabrication method enables the creation of biocompatible protein scaffolds down to the nm-range for cell studies and medical application.