(11c) Engineering Polyelectrolyte Capsules with Independently Controlled Size and Shapes for Protein Delivery

Polyelectrolyte capsules (PECs) are a promising delivery system with the ability to carry a high payload of a variety of cargoes. Controlling PEC properties is critical to understanding and tuning their cellular uptake efficiency, kinetics and mechanism, and their biodistribution in the body. The lack of a method to independently engineer PEC size, shape, and chemistry impedes both basic understanding of how physicochemical parameters affect PEC behavior in drug delivery and other applications, and the ability to optimize parameters for best function. Here, we report successful fabrication of PECs of constant surface chemistry with independently controlled size and shape by combining soft organic templates created by the particle stretching method and a modified layer by layer (LBL) deposition process. These results will contribute to basic study on the role of capsule shape and size on function, and optimization of capsule properties for drug or imaging carriers, sensors, reactors, and other applications. As an example, we demonstrate loading and controlled release of functional protein with PECs.