The Firefly Platform
Firefly microparticles are produced by Optical Liquid Stamping, a microfabrication method developed in the laboratory of Prof. Patrick Doyle at MIT by combining microfluidics with photolithography. With this method, particles are printed on streams of photopolymerizable compounds, allowing graphical encoding and incorporation of biofunctional probes to occur in one step. This process combines the non-mixing and continuous nature of microfluidics with the precise sculpting of photolithography, transforming the synthesis of morphologically- and chemically-complex particles into a rapid and scalable process. The flexibility of this technology is such that particles can be designed from a very large set of parameters, such as:
- Size range of 5-500 μm and broad range of shapes
- Wide array of materials: hydrophilic, hydrophobic, fluorescent, amine or carboxyl terminated, etc.
- Tunable porosity
- Wide range of functional probes for: mRNAs, microRNAs, proteins, etc.
- Multiple functional regions on the same particle
- Ability to encapsulate cells, viruses, enzymes, quantum dots, etc.
Encoded Particles for Biomolecule Detection
Complex Shapes
Multiple Chemistries
Publications
- Dendukuri, D., Pregibon, D.C., Collins, J., Hatton, T.A. and Doyle, P.S. Continuous-flow lithography for high-throughput microparticle synthesis. Nature Materials 5, 369 (2006)
- Pregibon, D.C., Toner, M. and Doyle, P.S. Multifunctional Encoded Particles for High-Throughput Biomolecule Analysis. Science 315, 1393 (2007)
- Pregibon, D. and Doyle, P. Optimization of Encoded Hydrogel Particles for Nucleic Acid Quantification. Analytical Chemistry 81, 4873 (2009)
- Chapin, S., Pregibon, D. and Doyle, P. High-Throughput Flow Alignment of Barcoded Hydrogel Microparticles. Lab on a Chip 9, 3100 (2009)
- Bong, K.W., Bong, K.T., Pregibon, D.C., and Doyle, P.S. Hydrodynamic Focusing Lithography. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 49, 87 (2010)