Light- and microfluidic-guided release of drugs: Microfluidics

Master thesis (2024)

Authors

G.T. van Veen Mechanical Engineering

Contributors

U. Staufer Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (mentor)
P.F.J. van Altena Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (mentor)
A.Y. Rwei ChemE/Product and Process Engineering - AS (graduation committee member)
P. Fanzio Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Mechanical Engineering
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

15-07-2024

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Current stroke treatments are limited to acute phase management, and there are few clinically available drugs for neuron protection or damage repair due to restrictions imposed by the blood-brain barrier. This project envisions an implantable DDS for precise drug dispensing to areas of the brain affected by stroke, using light-activated liposomes and microfluidic control to improve therapeutic effectiveness and minimize off-target side effects.

Reviewing literature on microfluidic trap-and-release mechanisms, it became evident that deformable particles often tend to slip out of traps. To accurately predict this behavior, the Young's-Laplace equation and energy stored in the liposome membrane have been assessed. Next, microfluidic devices that were able to manipulate the liposomes to the desired trapping locations were designed and produced. The trapping behavior of liposomes has been assessed by increasing the hydrostatic pressure under a fluorescent microscope. The results show that the experimental pressure of 50-250 Pa is lower than the expected theoretical predictions and that there exists a diameter threshold of 17-18 μm for which the liposomes show lysis behavior. Finally, the entire DDS concept has been demonstrated using a network of traps using the path-of-least-resistance approach.