Microfluidic Fabrication of Monodisperse Biocompatible and Biodegradable Polymersomes with Controlled Permeability

Original entry by Bryan Weinstein, Fall 2012

General Information

Authors: Shum, H. C., Kim, J.-W., & Weitz, D. A.

Keywords:

Summary

Encapsulation and delivery of small amounts of materials such as drugs and fragrances are important to many industries (i.e. pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries). Encapsulating structures should capture the appropriate material cos-effectively as possible and should easily be triggered to release the material.

In nature, vesicles naturally encapsulate and release materials. The membrane of a vesicle is created by "amphiphilic molecules" (phospholipids) via self-assembly. Unfortunately, the membrane generally only has a thickness on the order of nm, resulting in poor rigidity and

References

[1] Shum, H. C., Kim, J.-W., & Weitz, D. A. (2008). Microfluidic fabrication of monodisperse biocompatible and biodegradable polymersomes with controlled permeability. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 130(29), 9543-9. doi:10.1021/ja802157y