Synthetic biology in droplet-based microfluidics

Mohammadi, Kimia (2016) Synthetic biology in droplet-based microfluidics. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Due to Embargo and/or Third Party Copyright restrictions, this thesis is not available in this service.
Printed Thesis Information: https://eleanor.lib.gla.ac.uk/record=b3175701

Abstract

Droplet microfluidics is an active multidisciplinary area of research that evolved out of the larger field of microfluidics. It enables the user to handle, process and manipulate micrometer-sized emulsion droplets on a micro- fabricated platform. The capability to carry out a large number of individual experiments per unit time makes the droplet microfluidic technology an ideal high-throughput platform for analysis of biological and biochemical samples. The objective of this thesis was to use such a technology for designing systems with novel implications in the newly emerging field of synthetic biology. Chapter 4, the first results chapter, introduces a novel method of droplet coalescence using a flow-focusing capillary device. In Chapter 5, the development of a microfluidic platform for the fabrication of a cell-free micro-environment for site-specific gene manipulation and protein expression is described. Furthermore, a novel fluorescent reporter system which functions both in vivo and in vitro is introduced in this chapter. Chapter 6 covers the microfluidic fabrication of polymeric vesicles from poly(2-methyloxazoline-b-dimethylsiloxane-b-2-methyloxazoline) tri-block copolymer. The polymersome made from this polymer was used in the next Chapter for the study of a chimeric membrane protein called mRFP1-EstA∗. In Chapter 7, the application of microfluidics for the fabrication of synthetic biological membranes to recreate artificial cell- like chassis structures for reconstitution of a membrane-anchored protein is described.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Keywords: Droplet-based microfluidics, synthetic biology, site-specific recombination, polymersome, protocell.
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
Q Science > QC Physics
Colleges/Schools: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering
Supervisor's Name: Cooper, Professor Jonathan
Date of Award: 2016
Embargo Date: 22 August 2023
Depositing User: Ms Kimia Mohammadi
Unique ID: glathesis:2016-7596
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 27 Sep 2016 09:02
Last Modified: 11 Aug 2022 15:34
Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.7596
URI: http://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/7596

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