https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-024-00428-5
Regular Article - Soft Matter
A microfluidic platform for the synthesis of polymer and polymer-protein-based protocells
1
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S 33rd Street, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2
Department of Biongineering, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S 33rd Street, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA
e
daeyeon@seas.upenn.edu
f
hammer@seas.upenn.edu
Received:
10
November
2023
Accepted:
22
April
2024
Published online:
3
June
2024
In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of polymersomes, protein-blended polymersomes, and polymeric microcapsules using droplet microfluidics. Polymersomes with uniform, single bilayers and controlled diameters are assembled from water-in-oil-in-water double-emulsion droplets. This technique relies on adjusting the interfacial energies of the droplet to completely separate the polymer-stabilized inner core from the oil shell. Protein-blended polymersomes are prepared by dissolving protein in the inner and outer phases of polymer-stabilized droplets. Cell-sized polymeric microcapsules are assembled by size reduction in the inner core through osmosis followed by evaporation of the middle phase. All methods are developed and validated using the same glass-capillary microfluidic apparatus. This integrative approach not only demonstrates the versatility of our setup, but also holds significant promise for standardizing and customizing the production of polymer-based artificial cells.
Neha P. Kamat, Kevin B. Vargo and Rajarshi Chattaraj have contributed equally to this work.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-024-00428-5.
© The Author(s) 2024
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