Abstract
The interactions of adherent cells with their insoluble extracellular matrices are complex and challenging to study in the laboratory. Approaches from interface science have been important to preparing models of the biological matrix wherein discreet ligands are immobilized and interact with cellular receptors. A recent theme has been to develop dynamic substrates, where the activities of immobilized ligands can be modulated in real-time during cell culture. This short opinion reviews the strategies to manipulate ligand activity, highlights recent work that has advanced the field and discusses the applications that have been enabled. This work suggests that dynamic substrates will continue to find important uses in basic and applied biointerfaces.