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.

这项协作研究的目的是检验以下假设：使用不基于孔口使用的新过程，可以通过高粘性流体系统来控制具有均匀大小的微球的封装微球。基于孔口的技术限制了从粘性流体迅速产生不同尺寸的微球的灵活性。利用金属箔作为动态释放层的无激光辅助孔口制造技术将特别适合于100 MPa或更高阶的粘度的流体。关键的研究活动包括1）使用从时间分辨的成像研究和数学建模中获得的过程动力学知识来证明和优化提出的激光辅助向前转移技术； 2）阐明了封装的微球的激光辅助制造的流体动力学。藻酸钠将用作封装活细胞的模型流体。特别是，将大鼠内皮细胞悬浮液添加到藻酸钠溶液中，作为要封装的代表性活性成分。制造的微球将根据物理和生物学特性进行实验评估。在这项研究中，核心将使用金属辅助激光前进转移扩展粘性微球制造的知识。粘性封装的微球尺寸的精确控制非常重要，因为大小分布可以确定大多数微球应用的成功，例如组织工程和药物输送。更广泛的影响还将包括准备从事科学，技术，工程和数学学科职业的训练有素的学生。随着这项研究获得的新知识，将进一步开发生物材料课程的生物医学制造和处理，以使学生在制造技术方面取得最新的进步。