MICROFLUIDIC ASYMMETRICAL FLOW FIELD-FLOW FRACTIONATION (μAF4)

Nanomedicine and biotherapeutics are progressively replacing traditional small drug therapeutics. Lipidic nanoparticles for covid vaccines is one of the most recent and succesful example. The field success is strongly related to analytical techniques such as SEC chromatography and size analysis. AF4 flow separation is an attractive alternative to SEC to separate a wider range of nanoparticles. Yet, the experimental complexity and resources it requires limit its current capacities. Thanks to our expertise in thermoplastic, we can miniaturize it, intensifying its performances and overcoming its current limitations.

Applications

• Biotherapeutics (extracellular vesicles, immunotherapies)
• Nanomedicines (polymer / lipidic nanoparticles, inorganics)
• Environmental science (see work of J. Gigault, CNRS researcher)
• Hyphenated detection (coupling with detectors among whom
• Absorption UV and visible / mass spectrometer, refractometer, light scattering analyzer)

Competitive advantages

• Higher resolution separation
• Lower sample consumption
• Fast, simple and cheap fabrication process
• Performed in purely aqueous mobile phases
• Easy and rapid changes of conditions
• Wider size range of separation than chromatography

Intellectual property

• “Dispositif microfluidique de fractionnement en continu à écoulement asymétrique et procédé d’utilisation correspondant“ Salmon, Gahoual, Houze, Mignet, EP3756001A1
• US Patent pending

Keywords

Field-flow fractionation - Analytical chemistry - Nanomedicines - Separation sciences - Microfluidics - Biotherapeutics