Abstract: Degradable hollow shell particles are disclosed that can encapsulate cells within the hollow inner cavity that allows for the high-throughput screening and sorting of the encapsulated cells based on their phenotypic properties. The solid-phase of the particle is porous such that solution exchange can occur between the external environment and the interior cavity. Further, the solid-phase contains degradable crosslinkers and can be degraded to release enclosed biological entities. An example embodiment consists of encapsulating a cell within the hollow shell particle, allowing the cell to accumulate biomass, selecting hollow shell particles based on accumulated biomass, and degrading the hollow shell particles to release the cells and develop hyper-producing cell lines. Exemplary cell types include microalgae, mammalian cells, bacteria, yeast, and fungi.

Abstract: A method of fabricating shaped particles is disclosed. The method involves generating a plurality of droplets within dispersion media (e.g., oil and surfactant), the plurality of droplets formed from a mixture of precursor materials that are in a miscible state. A stimulus or change of conditions is then introduced to the droplets so as to cause the mixture of precursor materials to become immiscible and phase-separate from one another. The phase-separated droplets are then crosslinked to form shaped particles. The stimulus or change of conditions may include one or more of the following: a change in temperature, a change in pH, a change in osmolarity, a change composition of the droplets, a change in the composition of the dispersion media. The shaped particles may be washed to remove un-crosslinked material and one or more affinity capture agents may be immobilized onto the shaped particles.

Abstract: An emulsion system includes a plurality of monodisperse particle-drops. Each particle-drop is formed by a single elongated drop-carrier particle disposed in an oil-based continuous phase, wherein the single elongated drop-carrier particle comprises an elongate body with an opening at one end thereof. The single elongated drop-carrier particle has a hydrophilic interior region containing an aqueous droplet and a hydrophobic exterior region. The aqueous droplet and/or a surface of the hydrophilic interior region may contain one or more reagents, analytes, labels, reporter molecules, and/or cells.

Abstract: Despite the significant advances in designing injectable bulk hydrogels, the inability to control the pore interconnectivity and decoupling it from the matrix stiffness has tremendously limited the applicability of stiff, flowable hydrogels for 3D cellular engineering. To address this problem, we developed a universal method to convert macromolecules and the like with orthogonal chemical and/or physical responsivity, e.g., thermosensitive macromolecules with chemically-crosslinkable moieties, into annealable building blocks, forming 3D microporous beaded scaffolds in a bottom-up approach.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein that create discrete volumes associated with solid-phase particles (e.g., drop-carrier particles) suspended in an immiscible phase (e.g., dropicles). One embodiment of the system includes a plurality of hydrogel-based drop-carrier particles containing a microscale voids or cavities that hold an aqueous phase droplet of fluid within each drop-carrier particle. The plurality of hydrogel drop-carrier particles associated with aqueous drops are suspended as individual elements in an immiscible oil phase. The microscale hydrogel drop-carrier particles containing the voids or cavities may be manufactured using microfluidic droplet generators. The dropicles may be used to analyze single-entities (e.g., single-molecules and single-cells) and analytes.