Microfluidic strategies for design and assembly of microfibers and nanofibers with tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications

Fiber-based materials provide critical capabilities for biomedical applications. Microfluidic fiber fabrication has recently emerged as a very promising route to the synthesis of polymeric fibers at the micro and nanoscale, providing fine control over fiber shape, size, chemical anisotropy, and biological activity. This Progress Report summarizes advanced microfluidic methods for the fabrication of both microscale and nanoscale fibers and illustrates how different methods are enabling new biomedical applications. Microfluidic fabrication methods and resultant materials are explained from the perspective of their microfluidic device principles, including co-flow, cross-flow, and flow-shaping designs. It is then detailed how the microchannel design and flow parameters influence the variety of synthesis chemistries that can be utilized. Finally, the integration of biomaterials and microfluidic strategies is discussed to manufacture unique fiber-based systems, including cell scaffolds, cell encapsulation, and woven tissue matrices.

Supramolecular polymerization in microfluidic channels: spatial control over multiple intermolecular interactions

A novel supramolecular assembly has been developed in conjugation with microfluidics. Self-assembly of the programmed molecules was controlled precisely, in space and time, in a microflow channel as a result of a homogeneous solvent mixing process. Furthermore, through continuous organization of component molecules followed by orientation along microflow, the self-assembling event containing different molecules was spatially controlled from nano to micrometer scale in a single stream (GMP=guanosine 5'-monophosphate).