Celloidosomes® via glass-based microfluidics

We report a glass-based microfluidic route for the generation of a particular class of celloidosomes consisting of an assembly of yeast cells at the outskirts of liquid drops inside an also liquid continuous phase. This is the first demonstration of the encapsulation of cells into shells of alginate surrounding a liquid core. The microfluidic method based on double emulsion technology allows precise control on the size of the celloidosomes, thickness of the outer shell, and the cell density. In addition, this surface encapsulation technique can potentially overcome cell viability issues usually associated with bulk cell encapsulation techniques. (paper)