Lipid-Bicelle-Coated Microfluidics for Intracellular Delivery with Reduced Fouling.

Innovative technologies for intracellular delivery are ushering in a new era for gene editing, enabling the utilization of a patient's own cells for stem cell and immunotherapies. In particular, cell-squeezing platforms provide unconventional forms of intracellular delivery, deforming cells through microfluidic constrictions to generate transient pores and to enable effective diffusion of biomolecular cargo. While these devices are promising gene-editing platforms, they require frequent maintenance due to the accumulation of cellular debris, limiting their potential for reaching the throughputs necessary for scalable cellular therapies.

Acoustofluidic sonoporation for gene delivery to human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

Advances in gene editing are leading to new medical interventions where patients' own cells are used for stem cell therapies and immunotherapies. One of the key limitations to translating these treatments to the clinic is the need for scalable technologies for engineering cells efficiently and safely. Toward this goal, microfluidic strategies to induce membrane pores and permeability have emerged as promising techniques to deliver biomolecular cargo into cells.

PDGF-dependent β-catenin activation is associated with abnormal pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell proliferation in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by excessive pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) growth, partially in response to PDGF-BB but whether this is dependent on β-catenin (βC) activation is unclear. Compared to healthy cells, PAH PASMCs demonstrate higher levels of proliferation both at baseline and with PDGF-BB that correlate with GSK3β dependent βC activation. We show that βC knockdown but not Wnt5a stimulation reduces PDGF-BB dependent growth and normalizes PAH PASMCs proliferation.