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Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Generation of Alginate Microspheres for Biomedical Applications
Published on: August 12, 2012
Controllable generation and encapsulation of alginate fibers using droplet-based microfluidics
Chiara Martino1, Cyril Statzer1, Daniele Vigolo1
1Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich, Vladimir Prelog Weg 1, Zürich 8093, Switzerland. andrew.demello@chem.ethz.ch chiara.martino@chem.ethz.ch.
Abstract:
Herein we demonstrate the segmentation of alginate solution streams to generate alginate fibers of precisely controllable lengths between 200 and 1000 μm. Moreover, we demonstrate the subsequent encapsulation of the formed fibers within pL-volume microdroplets, produced within the same microfluidic device, in a direct manner. Finally, we show immediate and complete on-chip gelation of alginate fibers in a rapid and reproducible fashion.
