This dissertation focuses on the directed self-assembly of nanoscale soft matter particles using methods based on liposome-templating. Nanoscale liposomes, nano-sized hydrogel particles ("nanogels"), and hybrids of the two have enormous potential as carriers in drug delivery and nanotoxicity studies, and as nanovials for enzyme encapsulation and single molecule studies. Our goal is to develop assembly methods that produce stable nanogels or hybrid lipid-polymer nanoparticles, using liposomes as size and shape templates.

First we describe a bulk method that employs liposomes to template relatively monodisperse nanogels composed of the biopolymer, alginate, which is a favorable material for nanogel formation because it uses a gentle ionic crosslinking mechanism that is suitable for the encapsulation of cells and biomolecules. Liposomes encapsulating sodium alginate are suspended in aqueous buffer containing calcium chloride, and thermal permeabilization of the lipid membrane facilitates transmembrane diffusion of Ca2+ ions from the surrounding buffer into the intraliposomal space, ionically crosslinking the liposome core. Subsequent lipid removal results in bare calcium alginate nanogels with a size distribution consistent with that of their liposome template.

The second part of our study investigates the potential for microfluidic-directed formation of lipid-alginate hybrid nanoparticles by adapting the above bulk self-assembly procedure within a microfluidic device. Specifically we investigated the size control of alginate nanogel self-assembly under different flow conditions and concentrations.

Finally, we investigate the microfluidic directed self-assembly of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles, using phospholipids and an N-isopropylacrylamide monomer as the liposome and hydrogel precursors, respectively. Microfluidic hydrodynamic focusing is used to control the convective-diffusive mixing of the two miscible nanoparticle precursor solutions to form nanoscale vesicles with encapsulated hydrogel precursor. The encapsulated hydrogel precursor is polymerized off-chip and the resultant hybrid nanoparticle size distributions are highly monodisperse and precisely controlled across a broad range relevant to the targeted delivery and controlled release of encapsulated therapeutic agents. Given the ability to modify liposome size and surface properties by altering the lipid components and the many polymers of current interest for nanoparticle synthesis, this approach could be adapted for a variety of hybrid nanoparticle systems.