Microfluidic-assisted synthesis of nanomedicines in a low-cost microfluidic platform

CONDE A; LLOYD R; GADAN M; PORTU A; GIANNONI O; OLIVERA MS; L. POLICASTRO

San Diego

Congreso; World Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Congress; 2017

We present applications of a low-cost microfluidic platform that uses laminated polymethylmethacrylate chips, peristaltic micropumps and LEGO® Mindstorms components for the generation of nanomedicines [1]. We have successfully encapsulated hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds in liposomes with the advantages associated to microfluidic-assisted synthesis such as monodisperse size distributions, enhanced encapsulation efficiency and no need of size reduction steps. Microfluidic-generated liposomes containing oxaliplatin (an hydrophilic drug for cancer chemotherapy) had smaller size and better drug-to-lipid ratio when compared to traditional synthesis methods. Likewise, the same improvement of parameters was obtained in microfluidic-generated liposomes containing lactosyl carborane (an hydrophobic molecule used in boron neutron capture therapy). We have also synthetized nanoparticles containing siRNA-PEI (complexes used for gene therapy) that had smaller size and enhanced silencing capability when compared to traditional methods. The platform does not only allow for improvements in the nanomedicines parameters but also a significant reduction in processing times which is usually critical in research laboratories