Microfluidic devices for controlled viscous shearing and formation of amphiphilic vesicles
First Claim
1. A method of forming droplets comprising the steps of:
- forming a sheath flow from three inlet streams wherein a first stream comprising a first solution is sandwiched between second and third streams comprising a second solution; and
generating a droplet from the first stream.
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Abstract
Systems and methods that control the size and composition of emulsified droplets, multi-lamellar and asymmetric vesicles, encapsulation of reagents, membrane proteins, and sorting of vesicles/droplets. More particularly, microfluidic devices for controlled viscous shearing of oil-water emulsions of micro- and nano-scale droplets, the subsequent formation of amphiphilic vesicles such as liposomes, polymer vesicles, micelles, and the like, the post-assembly and post-processing of the droplets including splitting, fusing, sorting and the like, polymer emulsions, and the integration of amphiphilic vesicle production-line on a single microfluidic chip. Preferably, the microfluidic device enables oil-water co-flows with tunable viscous shear forces higher than the immiscible interfacial tension forces that generate favorable conditions for droplet formation.
151 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of forming droplets comprising the steps of:
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forming a sheath flow from three inlet streams wherein a first stream comprising a first solution is sandwiched between second and third streams comprising a second solution; and
generating a droplet from the first stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A microfluidic device for droplet formation comprising:
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a first input microchannel comprising a first solution;
second and third input microchannels comprising a second solution;
a microchannel junction in communication with the first, second and third input microchannels;
a plurality of pumps in communication with the three input microchannels to direct flow through the microchannels to the microchannel junction; and
an output channel in communication with the microchannel junction. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of manufacturing droplets comprising the steps of:
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forming a sheath flow from three inlet streams wherein a first stream comprising a first solution is sandwiched between second and third streams comprising a second solution;
generating a droplet from the first stream; and
processing the droplet. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A microfluidic device for manufacturing droplets comprising:
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a first input microchannel comprising a first solution;
second and third input microchannels comprising a second solution;
a microchannel junction in communication with the first, second and third input microchannels;
a plurality of pumps in communication with the three input microchannels to direct flow through the microchannels to the microchannel junction;
an output channel in communication with the microchannel junction; and
a droplet processor. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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Specification