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Biomicrofluidics / Volume 5 / Issue 4 / REGULAR ARTICLES

Biomicrofluidics 5, 044113 (2011); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3665221 (12 pages)

Stable, biocompatible lipid vesicle generation by solvent extraction-based droplet microfluidics

Shia-Yen Teh1, Ruba Khnouf2, Hugh Fan2,3, and Abraham P. Lee1,4

1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California at Irvine, 3120 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, California 92697, USA
2Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116131, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
3Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116250, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
4Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California at Irvine, 3120 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, California 92697, USA

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(Received 9 August 2011; accepted 11 November 2011; published online 9 December 2011)

In this paper, we present a microfluidic platform for the continuous generation of stable, monodisperse lipid vesicles 20–110 μm in diameter. Our approach utilizes a microfluidic flow-focusing droplet generation design to control the vesicle size by altering the system’s fluid flow rates to generate vesicles with narrow size distribution. Double emulsions are first produced in consecutive flow-focusing channel geometries and lipid membranes are then formed through a controlled solvent extraction process. Since no strong solvents are used in the process, our method allows for the safe encapsulation and manipulation of an assortment of biological entities, including cells, proteins, and nucleic acids. The vesicles generated by this method are stable and have a shelf life of at least 3 months. Here, we demonstrate the cell-free in vitro synthesis of proteins within lipid vesicles as an initial step towards the development of an artificial cell.

© 2011 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. MATERIALS AND METHOD
    1. Lipid reagents and solutions
    2. Photolithography and fabrication
    3. Surface treatment
    4. Experimental set-up
    5. Analysis and imaging
  3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
    1. Selective hydrophilic patterning
    2. Device design
    3. Lipid vesicle formation
    4. Solvent extraction process/vesicle characterization
    5. Vesicle size control
    6. Cell-free protein synthesis
  4. CONCLUSIONS

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

biological techniques, biomembranes, bioMEMS, cellular biophysics, drops, emulsions, macromolecules, microfluidics, molecular biophysics, proteins

PACS

  • 87.16.dt

    Structure, static correlations, domains, and rafts

  • 87.80.Ek

    Mechanical and micromechanical techniques

  • 07.10.Cm

    Micromechanical devices and systems

  • 82.70.Kj

    Emulsions and suspensions

  • 87.14.E-

    Proteins

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3665221

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1932-1058 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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Figures (8)

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