Fabrication of nanolipogels with microfluidics-based NanoAssemblr

• Main Author: Yeo, Amanda Yuan Qi
• Other Authors: Subbu S. Venkatraman
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76763
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Advances in drug delivery technology have enabled polymer and lipid based nanocarriers to achieve clinical benefit. Nanocarriers are able to reduce systemic side effects and improve therapeutic efficacy of drugs but are still unable to overcome some of the multifaceted challenges that limit them from widespread clinical use. Nanolipogels, which are lipid bilayer encapsulating a polymer network core, combine the benefits of both polymer and lipid based nanocarriers into one system. This project focuses on the fabrication of nanolipogels using microfluidic system. Mass production of lipid based drug delivery systems are hindered by tedious and time consuming traditional methods of liposome fabrication. In addition, reproductivity and heterogeneity in particle size also make it difficult to manufacture using these traditional techniques. Microfluidics based fabrication systems are simple to use, fast, produce particles that are monodisperse in size and a promising alternative to traditional techniques. Hence, this project focuses on exploring the use of the microfluidics-based NanoAssemblr Benchtop to produce nanolipogels. The effect of flow rate ratio and total flow rate on size, size distribution and encapsulation efficiency of nanolipogels were determined.