Using microfluidics to create and utilise anisotropy within protocells and protocell communities.

This PhD is designed to seek inspiration from anisotropic patterns in natural primary life and to use microfluidic techniques to mimic these patterns within protocells and protocell colonies.

Anisotropy is ubiquitous in the natural world, evident in even the earliest stages of cell development and thus essential for the emergence of modern life. Anisotropy is also utilised in a variety of practical applications such as in drug delivery, self-assembly and display systems. This project aims to mimic and utilise anisotropic patterns in protocell cell design and development.

Microfluidics is a powerful tool for the manipulation of fluids on the microscale. A sub-category of which, droplet-based microfluidics, can be used to fabricate homogenous micro shapes for example, spherical droplets, rods and disks. Careful design of microfluidic chips also enables the encapsulation of biomaterials inside these micro shapes. This project aims to exploit microfluidic technologies to construct anisotropic rod-like protocells and to encapsulate anisotropic distributions of protocells within these shapes, leading to a platform for protocell signalling and communication.

The general outline of this PhD project is thus, to construct anisotropic protocells using droplet-based microfluidics and to explore chemical signalling between anisotropically spaced protocell domains, within such larger parent protocells. In a broader sense, this PhD aims to develop microfluidic techniques for applications in protocell research, and to develop a deep understanding about how anisotropy makes a difference.