There is a real unmet need for more advanced materials and processes to enable the fabrication of complex biocompatible and programmable devices with micron-level features to control cell adhesion, migration and differentiation. The developed POLINA technology will be trialled in three different applications, ultimately aiming at treating lung conditions. Each application demands bespoke patterned structures at different length scales with increasing complexity informing the long-term translation of its technology.

• Micropatterned surfaces: Mechanically and chemically tuneable micropatterned structures will be designed to customise substrates as models for implant surfaces for better tissue compatibility. 
• Spheroid arrays: The POLINA consortium will develop a new generation of tuneable and biocompatible platform for culturing spheroid arrays that, in the future, may be specifically designed on-demand to mimic the requirement of spheroids of interest, enabling the reduction of reliance on animal studies in areas such as drug discovery and implant compatibility. 
• Tissue regeneration: The POLINA consortium will employ innovative lithographic processing from amino acids material in which scaffold properties can be optimised. In the long term, a mix-and-go system by which the clinician or bioengineer rationally designs a formulation from a stock of functional amino acids to meet the desired scaffold properties is envisaged.