Methods of fabricating hyper compliant polymer particles and methods of use and compositions

Abstract

Compositions and methods are provided for making hyper compliant polymer particles by inverse emulsification and having a predetermined mechanical compliance and a predetermined size with a monodisperse diameter. Compositions and methods are provided for use of hyper compliant polymer particles in drug delivery, assay, particle image velocimetry, ceramics, cosmetics, deconvolution, electronic paper, insulation, personal care, standards, retroreflective paint and paint applications, thickening agents, regenerative medicine, device calibration, micro-carriers and force indicators.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of calibrating a flow device for particle sizes in a range of cell sizes, the method comprising:
 preparing a fluid containing a hyper compliant polymer particle composition obtained by inverse emulsification and having a predetermined mechanical compliance and a predetermined diameter selected by a user within a range of 0.1 µm to about 100 µm; and   impelling the fluid through the flow device and measuring voltage as the hyper compliant 
polymer particles deform while flowing through the flow device thereby calibrating the flow device to a value accurate for cells. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1  wherein the flow device is selected from the group consisting of a flow cytometer, a fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) device, and a micro-fluidic device. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1  further comprising coating the hyper compliant polymer particles with at least one material selected from: a therapeutic agent, a protein, a nucleotide sequence, a targeting agent, a carbohydrate, a lipid, a dye, and a small molecule. 
     
     
         4 . A method for calculating applied force in a device or a fluid flow, the method comprising:
 preparing a fluid containing hyper compliant polymer particles obtained by inverse emulsification and having a predetermined mechanical compliance and a diameter of 0.1 µm to 
about 100 µm;
 impelling the fluid in the device or the fluid flow; and 
 measuring an extent of deformation of the hyper compliant polymer particles; 
 wherein the extent of deformation of the hyper compliant polymer particles is directly proportional to applied force and calculating applied force in the device or the fluid flow.