it is not understood what causes or influences pattern formation in cells during the development of an organism . when animal / human cells are cultured in a petri dish the adherent cells attach to the bottom of the dish , whereas the non - adherent cells float in the growing medium . currently there are no specialized dishes for culturing non - adherent cells . we now show that non - adherent cells could be induced to form distinct patterns when cultured in an etched plastic dish . the non - adherent cells showed polarity when cultured in the etched plate . the polarity / pattern formation could be reversed with inhibitors specific for adhesion proteins . the phenomenon of pattern formation by non - adherent cells has wide applications in cell and developmental biology , diagnostics , microbiome research , biofluidics , drug discovery , industrial production of biological products , and also in biotechnology and bioengineering .