Smart Microcapsules Through Controlled Macromolecular Coating
New approaches to control molecular ingress/egress from capsules in microfluidic devices (making them ‘smart’) offers the potential to develop new highly selective tools for biochemical analysis/manipulation. Initial reports of polymer-coating microcapsules show selective permeability can be achieved, but were limited the by range of polymers which are commercially-availability.
In this interdisciplinary project we will synthesise new polymeric coatings (Synthetic Chemistry), characterize their ability to coat gel microcapsules and selectively control permeability (Supramolecular Chemistry), incorporate production/manipulation of these into microfluidic devices (Engineering), and explore development of new microfluidics tools for bioanalysis & manipulation (Biotech/Bioanalysis; in collaboration with an industrial partner).