Unique Aerofoil‐Structured Microfluidics for High Throughput Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation Screening and Scale‐up
Herein, a high-throughput microfluidic platform is presented that addresses the challenges in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) formulation screening and scale-up through the design of micromixers with unique aerofoil structures. These structures are optimized to enhance mixing and LNP formation across a wide flow rate range (0.2-50 mL min<sup>-1</sup>), using minimal reagent volumes (as low as 0.1 mL) up to liter-scale production. A high-throughput formulation screening instrument named MiNANO-form and a microfluidic cartridge with eight parallel channels is introduced, which enables simultaneous synthesis of multiple LNP formulations with excellent quality (size 38-150 nm and polydispersity index (PDI), PDI < 0.2) and reproducibility. In addition, for a seamless scale-up, the platform consists of a custom-made modular microfluidic unit, named MiNANO-scale, capable of continuous LNP production at up to 50 mL min<sup>-1</sup>. The platform's performance is validated through mRNA and pDNA transfection, as well as siRNA uptake studies in HEK293, A549, and CFBE cells.
Authors
- Xianqing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8702-3859)
- Dongsheng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-7555)
- Allen Mathew (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1827-5267)
- Liang Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6000-8974)
- Mingzhi Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0184-9888)
- Nan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7849-3974)
- Wenxin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5053-0611)
- Yuguo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8833-443X)
- Tianyu Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0223-4222)
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Institute of Technology Carlow (IE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-10-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202511222
- Primary Topic
- RNA Interference and Gene Delivery
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Enterprise Ireland
- Science Foundation Ireland
- China Scholarship Council