The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 15, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2013
Ut-battelle, Llc, Oak Ridge, TN (US);
University of Tennessee Research Foundation, Knoxville, TN (US);
Charles Patrick Collier, Oak Ridge, TN (US);
Scott Thomas Retterer, Knoxville, TN (US);
Jonathan Barton Boreyko, Knoxville, TN (US);
Prachya Mruetusatorn, Knoxville, TN (US);
UT-BATTELLE, LLC, Oak Ridge, TN (US);
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH FOUNDATION, Knoxville, TN (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides methods of on-demand, reversible generation of aqueous two-phase microdroplets core-shell microbeads, microparticle preparations comprising the core-shell microbeads, and drug delivery formulation comprising the microparticle preparations. Because these aqueous microdroplets have volumes comparable to those of cells, they provide an approach to mimicking the dynamic microcompartmentation of biomaterial that naturally occurs within the cytoplasm of cells. Hence, the present methods generate femtoliter aqueous two-phase droplets within a microfluidic oil channel using gated pressure pulses to generate individual, stationary two-phase microdroplets with a well-defined time zero for carrying out controlled and sequential phase transformations over time. Reversible phase transitions between single-phase, two-phase, and core-shell microbead states are obtained via evaporation-induced dehydration and water rehydration.