Methods of generating microparticles and porous hydrogels using microfluidics
AssigneeUniversity of Wyoming
InventorsJohn Oakey, Kaspars Krutkramelis, Bingzhao Xia
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Abstract
Provided herein are methods utilizing microfluidics for the oxygen-controlled generation of microparticles and hydrogels having controlled microparticle sizes and size distributions and products from provided methods. The included methods provide the generation of microparticles by polymerizing an aqueous solution dispersed in a non-aqueous continuous phase in an oxygen-controlled environment. The process allows for control of size of the size of the aqueous droplets and, thus, control of the size of the generated microparticles which may be used in biological applications.
Claims27
A method of preparing a plurality of microparticles in a microfluidics device in an oxygen-controlled environment comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a continuous phase comprising a non-aqueous liquid and an aqueous phase comprising a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based photodegradable macromer having a molecular weight selected from the range of 200 to 20,000 Daltons, a biological material, and an initiator;
- (b) forming a composition comprising microdroplets of said aqueous phase dispersed in said non-aqueous liquid;
- (c) controlling oxygen concentration in the microdroplets to enhance viability of the biological material, wherein the controlling comprises:
- (i) providing said composition comprising said microdroplets and said non-aqueous liquid in a first channel of said microfluidics device;
- (ii) flowing said oxygen-free gas through a second channel, adjacent to said first channel;
- (iii) diffusing at least some of said oxygen-free gas into a region of the microfluidics device between the first and second channels;
- and
- (iv) varying a supply pressure of the oxygen-free gas in order to vary the oxygen concentration within the microdroplets;
- and
- (d) partially polymerizing said monomer or said macromer in said microdroplets, wherein, as polymerization is impeded by dissolved oxygen, only a fraction of a radial volume of each microdroplet is polymerized and the rest remains as a liquid film of un-polymerized aqueous phase on a polymerized core thereby generating microparticles within said aqueous phase having a smaller radius than said microdroplets;
- wherein the partially polymerizing step is at least partially controlled via the controlling oxygen concentration step (c);
- and wherein the microparticles have a mean diameter of less than or equal to 1000 μm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.