Microfluidic-assisted polymer-protein assembly to fabricate homogeneous functionalnanoparticles

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology and Nanotechnology
• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Functional polymer-protein nanoparticles (NPs) are crucial for diverse biotechnological and nanotechnological applications.
• Conventional bulk synthesis methods struggle to achieve the homogeneous mixing required for uniform NP fabrication.
• Controllable and vigorous mixing is essential for creating well-defined polymer-protein nanostructures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore an electrokinetics (EK)-based microfluidic reactor for assembling functional proteins with polymers.
• To investigate the efficiency of fast mixing in producing homogeneous polymer-protein NPs.
• To assess the impact of the microfluidic method on NP size distribution and protein functionality.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an electrokinetics (EK)-based microfluidic reactor for rapid mixing of polymers and functional proteins.
• Employed an ethanol/water co-solvent system for nanoparticle assembly.
• Varied the mass ratio of polymer to protein to tune nanoparticle size.

Main Results:

• Achieved significantly improved size distribution of polymer-protein NPs compared to conventional bulk methods.
• Demonstrated tunability of NP size by adjusting the polymer-to-protein mass ratio.
• Confirmed sustained functionality of assembled proteins after microfluidic processing.

Conclusions:

• EK-based microfluidic mixing offers a superior method for fabricating homogeneous polymer-protein NPs.
• The microfluidic approach provides control over NP size and preserves protein activity.
• This method holds significant potential for the controlled assembly of various functional proteins in nanotechnology.