Apr 15, 2014

Professor Thomas Mason led the development of a novel method of making multicomponent nanoemulsions to create a deformable liquid delivery vehicle for multiple drugs or other insoluble molecules.

Researchers at UCLA have developed a process for making multicomponent oil-in-water nanoemulsions that have identifiable compartments as well as defined interfaces between different immiscible oils within the same droplet. In particular, two types of nanoemulsions are created: two-component linear Janus nanodroplets and three-component linear-engulfed Cerberus nandroplets. This technology is able to create Janus droplets of less than 100nm and the first linear-engulfed three-component Cerberus droplets, including sub-micron and nanoscale Cerberus droplets.


Figure from related publication: Cerberus Nanoemulsions Produced by Multidroplet Flow-Induced Fusion 
Langmuir, 2013, 29 (51), pp 15787-15793; DOI: 10.1021/la403817a

Applications
Drug delivery applications in pharmaceuticals

Advantages
-Novel method of creating Janus droplets in which the overall droplet radius is sub-100nm
-First method to produce linear-engulfed three-component Cerberus droplets, including sub-micron and nanoscale overall sizes
-Multicomponent ability to create combined nanoscale droplets that ensure delivery of several different types of drug molecules
-Multicomponent droplet formulations can include fluorinated oils for the delivery of fluorinated drug or imaging molecules
-Droplets are dominantly polar + non-polar, allowing delivery of both aromatic and aliphatic molecules
 
State Of Development
The approach has been tested and is viable in producing sub-micron and nanoscale droplets.
 
Invention Information:
Tech ID: 24041 / UC Case 2014-182-0