Particle Coating In Two-Phase Microfluidic Co-Flows

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Cell transplantation therapies have shown great promise in treating diseases such as type I diabetes. However, the patients in all of the successful clinical treatments so far have been required to use immunosuppressive drugs. These drugs are often harmful to organs such as kidneys. Yet, without immunosuppression, the transplanted cells may be quickly destroyed by the patient's immune system. Our laboratory is pursuing a new particle coating technology that will enable cell transplantation treatments without immunosuppression. We are developing the capability to coat individual particles, such as the cells being used in the treatment of type I diabetes, with a bio-compatible polymer membrane that protects the cells from the immune system and facilitates the transport of nutrients across the membrane. We use a microfluidics platform--a system of microchannels where viscosity and surface tension dominate the physics of fluid flow--to develop our technology, and leverage our expertise in fluid mechanics and electromagnetism to control the coating process. Our approach includes both experimental observation of the coated single cells and mathematical modeling of the coating flow. Most of all, we expect that our coating technology will greatly improve the viability of transplanted cells, which can positively impact the Canadian health care and biotechnology industries. We also anticipate significant interest from the global fluid mechanics community in our coating flow studies. Finally, through participation in this research program, our highly qualified personnel (HQP) will develop interdisciplinary skills in fields as diverse as engineering, medicine, and mathematics. These HQP will populate Canadian industry and apply our microscale coating technique to solve a variety of problems.