PLGA from PolySciTech Used in Research on Nanoparticle Generation Methods

There are many methods to generate nanoparticles and they all vary based on the quality of the particles as well as the scalability and control of the method. Recently, researchers at American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) used PLGA (AP154) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create nanoparticles according to several novel microfluidic and electrical methods. They recently published about these methods in a series of manuscripts and presentations. Read more:

Abualsayed, Alsaeed M., Sara A. Abouelmagd, and Mohamed Abdelgawad. "Miniaturised preparation of polymeric nanoparticles using droplet manipulation on open surfaces." Micro & Nano Letters 14, no. 13 (2019): 1312-1316. (https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/mnl.2019.0421) “Abstract: A digital microfluidics platform for the preparation of poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) was developed. Droplets of PLGA in dimethylformamide were merged with droplets of deionised water by electrical actuation on a digital microfluidics device to form PLGA NPs through nanoprecipitation. The developed platform is automated and allows for the preparation of polymeric NPs with small size and high uniformity. Using the platform, the authors were able to prepare monodisperse PLGA NPs as small as 115 nm with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.14 which can be challenging with conventional preparation techniques on the macroscale. Size of the prepared NPs can be tuned through proper choice of the volume ratio between the two merged droplets which controls the induced internal convection flow after merging. Concentration of PLGA in the dimethylformamide droplet also had an effect on the size and polydispersity of the formed NPs. These results prove the potential use of digital microfluidics for testing combinatorial synthesis of different polymeric NPs for various applications. This approach allows robust and automated screening of NP preparations using only few microlitres of the reagents used, thus conserving precious and costly NP components and loaded therapeutic agents.”

Abualsayed, Alsaeed, Sara Abouelmagd, and Mohamed Abdelgawad. "Nanoparticles synthesis using digital microfluidics." In 2019 IEEE 14th International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems (NEMS), pp. 201-204. IEEE, 2019. (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8915616/) “Abstract: We developed a Digital Microfluidics platform for synthesis of Poly(Lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) Nanoparticles (NPs). As far as we know, it is the first time droplet manipulation on open surfaces is used in NP synthesis. The platform we developed is automated and allows for synthesis of polymeric NPs with smaller size and higher uniformity. Using our platform, we were able to prepare monodisperse PLGA NPs as small as 115 nm with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.14 which can be challenging with conventional preparation techniques on the macroscale. Size of the prepared NPs was found to decrease with increasing the volume ratio between the water droplet and the dimethylformamide-PLGA droplet merged on the device. Increasing the concentration of PLGA resulted in larger particle size and smaller PDI. We believe our results prove the potential use of digital microfluidics for testing combinatorial synthesis of different polymeric NPs for various applications.”