Book excerpt: Cell Instructive Materials to Control and Guide Cell Function: Programmable Bioactive Interfaces looks at the key determinants of the dynamic interface between cell and materials and how this can be applied in developing new, bioactive biomaterials surfaces. The interface between cell and synthetic materials has attracted considerable scientific and technological interest, leading to the awareness that functional interfaces can actively guide and control specific adhesion and recognitions events. - Introduces readers to the fundamentals of complex cell-material interface dynamics - Provides valuable tools for the control of the interfacial dynamics to instruct and control cells or tissues functions - Covers the prospect of encoding specific cell instructions on, or within, a biomaterial by micro- and nano-patterning materials features