Multisomes: Encapsulated Droplet Networks
AssigneeOxford University Innovation Limited
InventorsJohn Hagan Pryce Bayley, Andrew Heron, Gabriel Villar
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Abstract
The invention provides a droplet encapsulate comprising: a drop of a hydrophobic medium; a peripheral layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the drop; and an aqueous droplet within the peripheral layer, the aqueous droplet comprising: (a) an aqueous medium and (b) an outer layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the aqueous medium. The invention also provides processes for preparing the droplet encapsulates. Various uses of the droplet encapsulates are also described, including their use as drug delivery vehicles, in synthetic biology, and in the study of membrane proteins.
Claims32
A droplet encapsulate comprising:
- a drop of a hydrophobic medium;
- a peripheral layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the drop;
- and
- an aqueous droplet within the peripheral layer, the aqueous droplet comprising:
- (a) an aqueous medium and (b) an outer layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the aqueous medium.
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A process for producing a droplet encapsulate, which droplet encapsulate comprises:
- a drop of a hydrophobic medium;
- a peripheral layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the drop;
- and
- an aqueous droplet within the peripheral layer, the aqueous droplet comprising:
- (a) an aqueous medium and (b) an outer layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the aqueous medium;
- which process comprises:
- transferring an aqueous droplet, which aqueous droplet comprises (a) an aqueous medium and (b) an outer layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the aqueous medium,
- into a drop of a hydrophobic medium, which drop of said hydrophobic medium has a peripheral layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around its surface.
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A process for producing a droplet encapsulate, which process comprises:
- (i) introducing a droplet of aqueous medium from a first channel of a microfluidic device, which first channel contains said aqueous medium, into a second channel of the microfluidic device, which second channel contains a hydrophobic medium,
- wherein the aqueous medium in the first channel, or the hydrophobic medium in the second channel, or both, further comprise non-polymeric amphipathic molecules,
- thereby producing in the second channel an aqueous droplet within the hydrophobic medium, said aqueous droplet comprising:
- (a) said aqueous medium and (b) an outer layer of said non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the aqueous medium;
- and
- (ii) introducing a drop of said hydrophobic medium from the second channel, which drop of hydrophobic medium comprises the aqueous droplet, into a third channel of the microfluidic device, wherein the third channel contains a hydrophilic carrier,
- wherein the hydrophobic medium in the second channel, or the hydrophilic carrier in the third channel or both, further comprise non-polymeric amphipathic molecules,
- thereby producing in the third channel a droplet encapsulate within the hydrophilic carrier, the droplet encapsulate comprising:
- the drop of said hydrophobic medium;
- a peripheral layer of non-polymeric amphipathic molecules around the surface of the drop;
- and
- said aqueous droplet within said peripheral layer.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.