Responsive, biocompatible substrates are of interest for directing the maturation and function of cells in vitro during cell culture. This can potentially provide cells and tissues with desirable properties for regenerative therapies. The present disclosure provides a scalable approach to attach, align and dynamically load cells on responsive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) substrates. Monodomain LCEs exhibit reversible shape changes in response to cyclic stimulus, and when immersed in an aqueous medium on top of, for example, resistive heaters, shape changes are fast, reversible and produce minimal temperature changes in the surroundings.