Development of a microfluidic device and electronic infusion system to fabricate microcapsules of calcium alginate

Microfluidic is used to perform mixing, flowing and dispersing of fluid in micro volume and they are widely applied in biomedical sciences, bioengineering and food sciences. Microfabrication technique based on microelectronic technology has the capability to produce microfluidic devices in micro or nano-metric scale but this technique involves costly process and toxic chemicals. In this project, we proposed the use of patterned vinyl adhesive template to produce a microfluidic device on a work bench that was applied to generate microbeads of Calcium Alginate for microencapsulation of cells. The design of the microfluidic device was simulated in the COMSOL Multiphysics software to provide emulsification of two fluids. In this work, an infusion pump of high flow rate (1000 to 5000 μl/min) was developed to be used together with a commercial syringe pump that could pump the fluid flow to emulsify the continuous and disperse phases leading to the production of microbeads. The human keratinocyte cell lines (HaCaTs) encapsulated in the microbeads were characterised using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and 4',6- diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining. The fabrication process of the microfluidic device was simple, safe and yet highly reproducible. Nonetheless, the device developed was able to produce narrow distribution of microbeads with diameter from 500 to 800 μm. At a volume of 20 μl Sodium Alginate solution, 50 ± 10 pieces of microbeads can be produced in 5 seconds. HaCaTs were successfully embedded in the microbeads using this simple and efficient technique