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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
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Fabrication of Micro-Patterned Chip with Controlled Thickness for High-Throughput Cryogenic Electron Microscopy
Published on: April 21, 2022
Imaging new transient nanostructures using a microfluidic chip integrated with a controlled environment vitrification
Jinkee Lee1, Ashish K Jha, Arijit Bose
1Division of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|October 25, 2008
Summary
Researchers discovered a new pathway for micelle-to-vesicle transitions, involving tubular intermediates. This finding, observed using microfluidics and cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), advances nanomedicine and biochemical process understanding.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology and Materials Science
- Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering
Background:
- Nanostructures like vesicles and micelles are crucial in nanomedicine for drug delivery and in biochemical processes.
- Previous studies documented micelle-to-vesicle transitions via disk-like intermediates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and characterize a novel pathway for the transition from micelles to vesicles.
- To present a theoretical framework explaining the observed tubule-vesicle transition.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an integrated microfluidic chip and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) for high-resolution imaging.
- Investigated the aggregation of micelles into tubules and their subsequent transformation into vesicles.
Main Results:
- Disclosed a new micelle-vesicle transition route involving the formation and subsequent breakup of tubular intermediates.
- Developed a simple energy-based theory to elucidate the tubule-vesicle transition mechanism.
Conclusions:
- The study reveals a previously unobserved tubular intermediate state in the micelle-vesicle transition.
- The integrated microfluidic/cryo-TEM approach offers a powerful tool for studying transient nanostructures under controlled conditions, applicable to various amphiphilic systems.
