Current materials used in the fabrication of microfluidic devices targeting intracellular cargo delivery via rapid membrane deformation clog within minutes, rendering them inefficient for sustainable cell processing. We have developed a method for coating microfluidic channels, having constrictions between 5 and 10 µm in diameter, with slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS). These bioinspired surface chemistries enable rapid transport of biomolecular payloads (e.g., DNA/RNA, proteins) into target cells via transient permeabilization that occurs as cells pass through the narrow microchannels and avoid biofouling issues that have precluded existing embodiments of this technology. Microfluidic devices were fabricated via a combination of photolithographic and porous silicon etching processes, and then infused with silicone oil to establish a SLIPS interface. These SLIPS functionalized devices will enable new opportunities in the development of gene and cellular therapies for a wide variety of disease treatments, which are currently limited when applied at clinically relevant scales in part by toxicities and off-target effects arising from technical limitations associated with non-viral transduction methods (e.g., electroporation).

Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces for cell deformation microfluidic devices and cargo delivery

255th National Meeting (2018)

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