Here, we describe the NanoAssemblr™ platform: a novel, scalable microfluidics-based system for the development and manufacture of nanoparticles for drug delivery applications. The NanoAssemblr™ uses custom engineered microfluidic chips to enable millisecond mixing of nanoliter reaction volumes containing nanoparticle components. This well-controlled process mediates bottom-up self-assembly of nanoparticles with process and formulation dependent characteristics, including limit-sized lipid nanoparticles (lsLNP), the smallest stable structure a LNP can form. Rapid mixing provides precise control over nanoparticle formation, resulting in nucleic acid solid-core nanoparticles and bilayer vesicles with reproducible sizes (15-200 nm) and low polydispersity (PDI < 0.1). Additionally, this system is easily scaled by parallelizing microfluidic mixers, which maintains identical reaction conditions for batch sizes from milliliters to liters.
Category
Processing Technology/Manufacturability
Year
2013
Institutions
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Z3, Canada. Precision NanoSystems, Inc., Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Z3, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Z3, Canada. Alcana Technologies, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1Z3, Canada
Summary
