Controlled Microfluidic Encapsulation of Cells, Proteins, and Microbeads in Lipid Vesicles

Cells have been encapsulated inside lipid vesicles by using a new microfluidic lipid vesicle formulation technique. Lipid vesicles are formulated within minutes without using toxic lipid solvents. The encapsulation efficiency inside the vesicles is controlled by the microfluidic flows. Green fluorescent proteins (GFP), carcinoma cells, and bead encapsulated vesicles have mean diameters of 27.2 μm, 62.4 μm, and 55.9 μm, respectively. The variations of vesicle sizes are ∼20% for the GFP and cell encapsulated vesicles and ∼10% for the bead encapsulated vesicles.