An increasing number of in vivo and in vitro neuro-engineering applications are Making use of colloidal : particles as neuronal tell carriers. Recent Studies highlight the shortcomings of commercial glass particles and stress the ' benefit of using soft, microgel particles (MGPs) instead. This study describes first the fabrication of MGPs from. telethwelic poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline)S (PMeOx) cross-linkers and hy-drophilic neutral (hyclroxyethyl)methacrylate (HEMA) or charged 2-methaeryloxyethyltrimethylammonium (METAC) monomers by emulsion polymerization, and it discusses their, ability to support cell growth. It establishes that uncharged copolymers lead to WON: with nonfouling properties inappropriate for cell culture, and it provides a protocol to amend their surface properties to enable cell adhesion. Finally, it demonstrates that the introduction of positive charges by METAC is necessary to obtain Surface properties: suitable for neuronal tell development Through the optimization of the PMeOx(30) MGP properties, this work Provides general,guidelines to evaluate and tune MGP chemistry to obtain microcarriers for neuro-engineering applications.