Encapsulation of living cells using microgels has a wide range of applications in pharmaceutical research, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and personalized drug screening. Various cell encapsulation techniques have been proposed thus far focusing on creating cell-laden microgel particles. However, current techniques have limited control over the shape and size of the encapsulating particles and lack ability to address individual cells. This research aims to develop a method for adaptive encapsulation of particles with geometrically and biochemically complex micro-particles. To this end, we demonstrate image-based particle detection in a microfluidic channel and real-time in-flow lithography to encapsulate suspended particle employing a digital micro display as a dynamically reconfigurable virtual photomask. Digital dynamic mask is economical and offers the flexibility of rapidly changing the mask on demand. Microfluidic environment allows for mass production of micro-particles having various chemical composition in a continuous manner. Combining these unique capabilities, we present encapsulation of individual particles with graphically encoded information. Visual information (shape, size, and location) of polystyrene micro-beads suspended in a photo-curable liquid resin is acquired through digital imaging and subsequent image analysis, based on which desired digital patterns, possibly with graphical information, are created and optically projected on the target beads for lithographical in-flow encapsulation. The work presented in this thesis provides a new method for particle encapsulation, which has the potential to lead to a breakthrough solution in pharmaceutical engineering, cancer research, and tissue engineering.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_8658
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (x, 66 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
M.S.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Microencapsulation
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Manish Boorugu
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.