Fundamental studies of adhesion phenomena involving vesicles

囊泡是微米或纳米尺寸的颗粒，其在边界膜的帮助下将有限体积的液体分隔开。 泡囊类产品，如织物柔软剂、护肤霜、洗发水和治疗剂，如Doxil（化学治疗剂）和两性霉素（抗真菌剂），共同构成了全球数十亿美元的业务。 然而，由于许多此类产品的开发都是试错式的，以实验为重点，因此仍然缺乏对哪些因素会导致更少的原材料消耗、更有效的资源使用、更低的环境影响和更好的产品功能的基本了解。 该项目是朝着系统地了解上述关系迈出的第一步。 特别是，我们专注于一个现象，管理基于囊泡的产品的优化-囊泡粘附（即囊泡粘附）。 囊泡粘附是产品如洗剂和治疗剂的功能中的关键步骤;另一方面，它对产品如织物柔软剂是一种威胁，并导致这些产品中活性材料的乳状液或沉淀。 在这个项目中，我们将开发两个工具，将表征囊泡粘附现象。 一种是称为微流体四辊磨的流动装置，它将帮助我们了解流动如何诱导或防止囊泡的粘附。 另一个装置是一个力装置，它决定了囊泡与表面或另一个囊泡结合的强度或强度。 该项目的理论部分将制定模型和模拟，预测增强或防止囊泡粘附的条件。 该项目的工具和结果将影响到囊泡产品行业以外的各种领域。 生物细胞和表面之间的相互作用与流动和不流动的血液流动，免疫反应机制，细胞内和细胞间的运输，药物输送和组织工程的影响。 我们的工具也将适用于设计在食品、植物油和石油工业中普遍存在的乳液系统，这些行业在加拿大都是数十亿美元的行业。

Vesicles are micron or nanometer-sized particles which compartmentalize a finite volume of liquid with the help of a bounding membrane. Vesicle-based products such as fabric softeners, skin creams, hair lotions, and therapeutics such as Doxil (chemotherapeutic) and Amphotericin (antifungal) together constitute a multi-billion dollar business worldwide. However, due to the trial-and-error, experimentally-focused nature of development of many of these products, a fundamental understanding of what factors would lead to lesser raw material consumption, more efficient resource usage, lower environmental impact and better product function is still lacking. This project represents a first step towards the development of a systematic understanding of the above relationships. In particular, we focus on one phenomenon that governs optimization of vesicle-based products - vesicle adhesion (i.e. vesicle sticking). Vesicle adhesion is a crucial step in the function of products such as lotions and therapeutics; on the other hand, it is a menace for products such as fabric softeners, and leads to creaming or settling of the active material in these products. In this project, we will develop two tools that will characterize vesicle adhesion phenomena. One is a flow device called the microfluidic four-roll mill, which will help us understand how flow induces or prevents the adhesion of vesicles. The other device is a force apparatus, which determines how strongly or weakly a vesicle binds to a surface or another vesicle. The theoretical component of this project will formulate models and simulations that will predict the conditions which enhance or prevent vesicle adhesion. The tools and results from this project will impact a wide variety of fields other than vesicle-product industries. The interactions between biological cells and surfaces with and without flow have implications in blood flow, immunological response mechanisms, intra and intercellular transport, drug delivery and tissue engineering. Our tools will also be applicable for designing emulsion systems which are prevalent in the food, vegetable oil and petroleum industries, all billion dollar industries in Canada.