Collaborative Research: Laser-Assisted Orifice-Free Fabrication of Viscous Alginate Microspheres

合作研究：激光辅助无孔制造粘性海藻酸盐微球

• 批准号: 1314830
• 负责人: Yong Huang
• 金额: $ 31.68万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2017-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1314830&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Laser; Assisted; Orifice

The objective of this collaborative study is to test the hypothesis that encapsulated microspheres with a uniform size can be controllably fabricated from a highly viscous fluid system using a novel process not based on the use of an orifice. Orifice-based techniques limit the flexibility in rapidly producing different size microspheres from viscous fluids. The laser-assisted orifice-free fabrication technique, utilizing a metallic foil as the dynamic release layer, will be especially suitable for fluids with a viscosity on the order of 100 mPa's or higher. Key research activities include 1) demonstrating and optimizing the proposed laser-assisted forward transfer technique using the process dynamics knowledge gained from a time-resolved imaging study and mathematical modeling; and 2) elucidating the fluid dynamics of the laser-assisted fabrication of encapsulated microspheres. Sodium alginate will be used as a model fluid to encapsulate living cells. In particular, rat endothelial cell suspension will be added to the sodium alginate solutions as a representative active ingredient to be encapsulated. The fabricated microspheres will be experimentally evaluated in terms of physical and biological properties.Success in this research will expand the knowledge for viscous microsphere fabrication using metallic-foil assisted laser forward transfer. The precise control of viscous encapsulated microsphere size is of great manufacturing importance since the size distribution can determine the success in most microsphere applications such as tissue engineering and drug delivery. Broader impacts also will include a pipeline of well-trained students ready to undertake careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines. With the new knowledge gained from this study, Biomedical Manufacturing and Processing of Biomaterials courses will be further developed to expose students to state-of-the-art advances in manufacturing technologies.

这项合作研究的目的是检验这样的假设：使用一种不基于孔口的新型工艺，可以从高粘性流体系统中可控地制造具有均匀尺寸的封装微球。基于孔板的技术限制了从粘性流体快速生产不同尺寸微球的灵活性。激光辅助无孔制造技术利用金属箔作为动态释放层，特别适用于粘度约为 100 mPa 或更高的流体。主要研究活动包括 1) 使用从时间分辨成像研究和数学建模中获得的过程动力学知识来演示和优化所提出的激光辅助前向传输技术； 2）阐明激光辅助制造封装微球的流体动力学。海藻酸钠将用作封装活细胞的模型流体。特别地，将大鼠内皮细胞悬浮液添加到海藻酸钠溶液中作为待包封的代表性活性成分。所制造的微球将在物理和生物特性方面进行实验评估。这项研究的成功将扩展使用金属箔辅助激光正向传输制造粘性微球的知识。精确控制粘性封装微球尺寸对于制造具有重要意义，因为尺寸分布可以决定大多数微球应用（例如组织工程和药物输送）的成功。更广泛的影响还包括培养一批训练有素的学生，准备从事科学、技术、工程和数学学科的职业。利用从这项研究中获得的新知识，生物医学制造和生物材料加工课程将得到进一步发展，让学生接触到制造技术的最先进的进步。