Jonathan Wuchter
Pronouns: he/him
Research Mentor(s): Aaron Morris
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Biomedical Engineering / Engineering
Program:
Authors: Jonathan Wuchter, Gabriela Garza, Aaron Morris
Session: Session 1: 9:00 am – 9:50 am
Poster: 5
Abstract
Increasingly polyethylene glycol (PEG) has shown use as a synthetic hydrogel for cell encapsulation. For the purpose of encapsulating engineered cells, however, current procedures used in the lab involving PEG have produced low yields of particles and low viability of cells. The lab needs encapsulated cells to study engineered cells in living systems. In developing a replicable procedure for the encapsulation of engineered HEK293FT cells, a water-in-oil emulsion, with 5% PEG in weight per volume of the water phase, was used to form microspheres with low polydispersity. The functional group of the crosslinking PEG arms were adjusted, from maleimide to vinyl sulfone, to allow the Michael-type addition, with thiol cross linking arms, between the PEG macromers to react at a rate that creates dispersed microparticles. The procedure consistently produced particles averaging 50 microns in diameter with a 60% yield, and minimal clumping between particles. Upon adding cells to the water phase of the emulsion, the particles expanded slightly in size but remained similarly low in polydispersity. However, further testing needs to be done on the percentage of cells being encapsulated. Overall, the procedure proved to be replicable in forming consistent hydrogel microspheres to encapsulate engineered cells.
