Abstract: In our study, we have established a novel liquid-driven co-flow focusing (LDCF) process to fabricate curcumin (CUR)-loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles (CPMs). LDCF-CPMs of size 20.26 +/- 2.37 mum have high encapsulation efficiency (>70%) and were intended for application in ovarian cancer by intraperitoneal (IP) administration. LDCF-CPMs have smooth surface with narrow size distribution and a core-shell structured verified by confocal microscopy which can be precisely controlled by changing the flow rates of focusing, outer and inner phases. The LDCF-CPMs reveal the physiochemical stability with sustained release profile corresponding to 95% CUR release over a period of 14 days in an in vitro release medium. Moreover, LDCF-CPMs were testified for cytot

Abstract: Preoperative assessment of tissue anatomy and accurate surgical planning is crucial in conjoined twin separation surgery. We developed a new method that combines three-dimensional (3D) printing, assembling, and casting to produce anatomic models of high fidelity for surgical planning. The related anatomic features of the conjoined twins were captured by computed tomography (CT), classified as five organ groups, and reconstructed as five computer models. Among these organ groups, the skeleton was produced by fused deposition modeling (FDM) using acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. For the other four organ groups, shell molds were prepared by FDM and cast with silica gel to simulate soft tissues, with contrast enhancement pigments added to simulate different CT and visual contrasts. T

Abstract: Tissue-simulating phantoms with interior vascular network may facilitate traceable calibration and quantitative validation of many medical optical devices. However, a solid phantom that reliably simulates tissue oxygenation and blood perfusion is still not available. This paper presents a new method to fabricate hollow microtubes for blood vessel simulation in solid phantoms. The fabrication process combines ultraviolet (UV) rapid prototyping technique with fluid mechanics of a coaxial jet flow. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and a UV-curable polymer are mixed at the designated ratio and extruded through a coaxial needle device to produce a coaxial jet flow. The extruded jet flow is quickly photo-polymerized by ultraviolet (UV) light to form vessel-simulating solid structures at dif

Abstract: LLL12 exhibits high specificity for inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation and dimerization, and inducing apoptosis to constitutively activated STAT3 cancer cells without cytotoxicity to normal cells with dormant STAT3. However, clinical deployment of LLL12 in cancer treatment is hindered by its low bioavailability and hypoxia-induced resistance. To overcome these limitations, we encapsulate both oxygen and LLL12 in stimuli responsive microdroplets (SRMs) by a gas-driven coaxial flow focusing (CFF) process for ultrasound mediated treatment of hypoxic cancer cells. Our benchtop experiments demonstrate that the CFF process is able to produce SRMs with uniform size distribution, large oxygen loading capacity, high LLL12 encapsulation efficiency, well protection of bioactivity, and steadil

Abstract: We propose a simple but efficient multiplex coaxial flow focusing (MCFF) process for single-step fabrication of multicompartment Janus microcapsules (MJMs) in a wide range of operating parameters. The produced MJMs consist of a multicompartmental core-shell structure with material compositions tunable in individual shell and core compartments. Potential applications of such a MJM agent are demonstrated in both benchtop and in vitro experiments. For the benchtop experiment, magnetic nanoparticles are loaded into one of the shell compartments and photopolymerized under ultraviolet light for controlled alignment and rotation of the microcapsules in a magnetic field. For the in vitro experiment, four different types of cells are encapsulated in the desired compartments of sodium algi

Abstract: Artemether is one of the most effective drugs for the treatment of chloroquine-resistant and Plasmodium falciparum strains of malaria. However, its therapeutic potency is hindered by its poor bioavailability. To overcome this limitation, we have encapsulated artemether in poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) core-shell microparticles (MPs) using the coaxial electrospray method. With optimized process parameters including liquid flow rates and applied electric voltages, experiments are systematically carried out to generate a stable cone-jet mode to produce artemether-loaded PLGA-MPs with an average size of 2 mum, an encapsulation efficiency of 78 +/- 5.6%, and a loading efficiency of 11.7%. The in vitro release study demonstrates the sustained release of artemether from the core-

Abstract: Oxygen and Indocyanine Green (ICG) loaded microparticles (OI-MPs) were fabricated by a gas-driven coaxial flow focusing (CFF) process for dual-mode imaging and sonodynamic therapy (SDT). The produced OI-MPs agent showed stable optical properties, superior imaging depth in near infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging, and enhanced acoustic contrast after ultrasound mediation. We hypothesized that encapsulating ICG and oxygen in microparticles would enhance reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in SDT. This hypothesis was validated in a cell-free environment. We further hypothesized that ultrasound mediated fragmentation of the OI-MPs would induce cytotoxicity and apoptosis of cancer cells. This hypothesis was validated in SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells. Our research demonstrated that O

Abstract: Surgical resection remains the primary curative treatment for many early-stage cancers, including breast cancer. The development of intraoperative guidance systems for identifying all sites of disease and improving the likelihood of complete surgical resection is an area of active ongoing research, as this can lead to a decrease in the need of subsequent additional surgical procedures. We develop a wearable goggle navigation system for dual-mode optical and ultrasound imaging of suspicious lesions. The system consists of a light source module, a monochromatic CCD camera, an ultrasound system, a Google Glass, and a host computer. It is tested in tissue-simulating phantoms and an ex vivo human breast tissue model. Our experiments demonstrate that the surgical navigation system prov

Abstract: Purpose: This preliminary study aimed at investigating the feasibility and effective of multi-scale hyperspectral imaging in detecting cervical neoplasia at both tissue and cellular levels.Methods: In this paper, we describe a noninvasive diagnosis method with a hyperspectral imager for detection and location of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) at multiple scales. At the macroscopic level, the hyperspectral imager was applied to capture the reflectance images of the entire cervix in vivo at a series of wavelengths. At the microscopic level, the hyperspectral imager was coupled with a microscope to collect the transmittance images of the pathological slide. The collected image data were calibrated. A wide-gap second derivative analysis was applied to differentiate CIN from

Abstract: Vast research has been carried out to fabricate tissue-mimicking phantoms, due to their convenient use and ease of storage, to assess and validate the performance of optical imaging devices. However, to the best of our knowledge, there has been little research on the use of multilayer tissue phantoms for optical imaging technology, although their structure is closer to that of real skin tissue. In this work, we design, fabricate, and characterize multilayer tissue-mimicking phantoms, with a morphological mouse ear blood vessel, that contain an epidermis, a dermis, and a hypodermis. Each tissue-mimicking phantom layer is characterized individually to match specific skin tissue layer characteristics. The thickness, optical properties (absorption coefficient and reduced scattering c

Abstract: Accurate and in vivo characterization of structural, functional, and molecular characteristics of biological tissue will facilitate quantitative diagnosis, therapeutic guidance, and outcome assessment in many clinical applications, such as wound healing, cancer surgery, and organ transplantation. We introduced and tested a multiview hyperspectral imaging technique for noninvasive topographic imaging of cutaneous wound oxygenation. The technique integrated a multiview module and a hyperspectral module in a single portable unit. Four plane mirrors were cohered to form a multiview reflective mirror set with a rectangular cross section. The mirror set was placed between a hyperspectral camera and the target biological tissue. For a single image acquisition task, a hyperspectral data

Abstract : Appropriate surgical planning is important for improved clinical outcome and minimal complications in many surgical operations. In order to provide an intuitive model for better surgical planning, we develop a novel process that combines 3D printing and casting for freeform fabrication of tissue-simulating phantoms. 3D computer models of biological systems including body and internal organs are sliced, processed, and converted into data format suitable for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The hard tissue structures, such as bones and skeletons, are printed directly by FDM using Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) material. The soft tissue structures, such as soft internal organs, are fabricated by casting silicon materials of different compositions in FDM printed shell molds.