Max Planck Institute for Medical Research 1 article published in JoVE Bioengineering Control of Cell Adhesion using Hydrogel Patterning Techniques for Applications in Traction Force Microscopy Joel Christian1, Johannes W. Blumberg2, Dimitri Probst2, Cristina Lo Giudice1, Sandra Sindt3, Christine Selhuber-Unkel3, Ulrich S. Schwarz2, Elisabetta Ada Cavalcanti-Adam1 1Department of Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, 2Institute for Theoretical Physics and BioQuant, Heidelberg University, 3Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering (IMSE), Heidelberg University Near-UV lithography and traction force microscopy are combined to measure cellular forces on micropatterned hydrogels. The targeted light-induced release of single cells enables a high number of measurements on the same sample.