Cover Picture: Using a Core–Sheath Distribution of Surface Chemistry through 3D Tissue Engineering Scaffolds to Control Cell Ingress (Adv. Mater. 11/2006)

Abstract The cover image shows a section through a 3D microcomputed‐tomography reconstruction of a porous polymer tissue‐engineering scaffold. Fibroblast cells (red) are encouraged to populate the interior of the disc by using a core/sheath distribution of plasma polymer (pp) coating. The background shows the cells on a flat surface, where their preference for adhesion to the pp allylamine surface (left) adjacent to a pp hexane (right) surface is readily apparent. This report by Alexander and co‐workers on p. 1406 is the first of cellular guidance within porous scaffolds using plasma polymerization, a coating method readily transferable to other scaffold materials.