Bawazar, LA, McNally, CS, Empson, CJ orcid.org/0000-0002-4808-8561 et al. (8 more authors) (2016) Combinatorial microfluidic droplet engineering for biomimetic material synthesis. Science Advances, 2 (10). e1600567. ISSN 2375-2548
Abstract
Although droplet-based systems are used in a wide range of technologies, opportunities for systematically customizing their interface chemistries remain relatively unexplored. This article describes a new microfluidic strategy for rapidly tailoring emulsion droplet compositions and properties. The approach utilizes a simple platform for screening arrays of droplet-based microfluidic devices and couples this with combinatorial selection of the droplet compositions. Through the application of genetic algorithms over multiple screening rounds, droplets with target properties can be rapidly generated. The potential of this method is demonstrated by creating droplets with enhanced stability, where this is achieved by selecting carrier fluid chemistries that promote titanium dioxide formation at the droplet interfaces. The interface is a mixture of amorphous and crystalline phases, and the resulting composite droplets are biocompatible, supporting in vitro protein expression in their interiors. This general strategy will find widespread application in advancing emulsion properties for use in chemistry, biology, materials and medicine.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016, The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (Leeds) > Synthetic Biology (Leed) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 06 Sep 2016 10:38 |
Last Modified: | 20 Jun 2021 08:37 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600567 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/sciadv.1600567 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:104256 |