New microfluidics technology advances organ repair and regeneration

Tiny gel droplets enhanced with University of Queensland technology could open new pathways to repairing and replacing damaged organs.

Dr. Ruirui Qiao and her team at UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) have patented a new microfluidics tool that produces 'smart' microgel droplets for exploring regenerative medicines.

Microfluidics tools are used to manipulate liquids and gas at incredibly small scales, giving researchers unique control over their chosen materials.

Dr. Qiao said her team's UQ-Surf microfludics platform could create thousands of microdroplets a minute, each one a temperature-responsive research environment for exploring tissue engineering and cell therapies.

In a microgel droplet we can work with materials in ways that would otherwise have been impossible.

But it is extremely tricky to create microgels capable of incubating living materials.

The technology we've created greatly simplifies the process - saving time and money – with an added option of changing the droplet's function by simply changing the temperature."

Dr. Ruirui Qiao, UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology

Crucially, the microgel droplets fabricated with UQ-Surf technology do not require harsh chemical treatments to make them viable for clinical use, better protecting the sensitive cargo inside.

"The level of control you get with traditional microgel droplets usually comes at a cost – the potential contamination of the living material you're working with," Dr Qiao said.

"UQ-Surf removes this risk, because we don't need harmful chemical demulsifiers or additional processing steps to recover encapsulated microgels.

"We only need to change the temperature."

Dr. Qiao said UQ-Surf had the potential to support a diverse range of biomedical applications, including 3D in vitro models for drug screening, targeted delivery of drugs, cells and genes, and advancements in tissue engineering.

The technology has been patented through UQ commercialization company UniQuest and has already been deployed in the lab, showcasing its market potential.

"The global microfluidics market is projected to reach $US41.6 billion ($64.2 billion) by 2028, nearly double what it was in 2023," Dr. Qiao said.

"Our aim is to play a role in this growth."

The UQ-Surf research is detailed in Advanced Materials Interfaces.

The UQ-Surf project included input from AIBN colleagues Professor Tom Davis, Xiangke Li, Dr. Helen Forgham, Qiuren Shen, and Dr. Liwen Zhang, as well as Dr. Dan Yuan from the UQ School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, Brisbane-based biotech Gelomics, the University of Adelaide, Queensland University of Technology, and the National University of Singapore.