HAT Partners with Princeton University for Development of Groundbreaking Flash Nanoprecipitation Mixer

October 21, 2019

Today, Holland Applied Technologies is excited to announce a new product developed with Princeton University- the CIJ and MIVM nanoprecipitation mixers. We wanted to highlight this development to not only shed light on an exciting new frontier of medicine, but also to provide a case study of HAT engineers working with our partners to develop and manufacture unique solutions for the high purity process industry.

The use of nanotechnology in medicine is spreading rapidly. A nanoparticle is a microscopic particle of a size below 100 nm. Nanoparticles can possess physical properties such as uniformity, conductance or special optical properties that make them desirable in materials science and biology. Their large surface area to volume ratio, their desirable quantum properties, and their ability to absorb and carry compounds are unique features that make nanoparticles attractive for medical purposes. Examples include products for drug delivery, gene therapy, biosensors, and tissue engineering.

In drug delivery applications, nanoparticles are utilized as delivery agents by encapsulating drugs to enhance delivery. The surfaces of the nanoparticles can be decorated with targeting agents that localize the nanoparticles at specific sites in the body. One such highly publicized application is the use of nanoparticles to deliver drugs to cancer cells. Particles are engineered to specifically interact with cancer cells, allowing for more precise treatment. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body. Today, researchers continue to explore applications of the technology to other areas such as treating heart disease, glaucoma through nanodiamond (carbon nanoparticles) -embedded contact lenses, and diabetes through a mixture containing nanoparticles with a solid core of insulin.

Nanoprecipitation is a common fabrication technique used for encapsulation of both hydrophilic (i.e. having a tendency to mix with, dissolve in, or be wetted by water) and hydrophobic (i.e. tending to repel or fail to mix with water) drugs in nanoparticles. Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP) provides a simple, rapid and scalable technique to form these drug nanoparticles.

The Confined Impinging Jet (CIJ) is the simplest mixer design for FNP and permits mixing of two streams in a scalable and continuous fashion. A Multi Inlet Vortex Mixer (MIVM) was also developed to enable up to four different stream inputs while still achieving the rapid micromixing required for uniform particle formation. The Confined Impinging Jet (CIJ) and Multi Inlet Vortex Mixer (MIVM) mixers have been designed and characterized in research led by Prof. Robert Prud’homme at Princeton University. His research group has produced a number of articles highlighting their use in the production of nanoparticles using scalable processing techniques. Holland Applied Technologies has collaborated with Princeton University in the fabrication of the CIJ and MIVM mixers. As seen below, there exists two versions of the MIVM mixer; the Micro-MIVM for 100 ml/min mixing and the MIVM for 550 ml/min mixing.

MIVM Mixer

The CIJ & MIVM Flash Nanoprecipitation Mixers

FNP enables simple formulation screening that can readily be translated to commercial-scale production.

Holland Applied Technologies would like to thank Prof. Robert Prud’homme and his research group at Princeton University for their research and their continued support in the design and development of the CIJ and MIVM technologies. Holland Applied Technologies is proud to offer both the CIJ & MIVM mixers, as well as other sanitary stainless steel and single-use solutions, including needles, tanks, pumps, and manifolds to help our customers with their unique applications. For more information about your next custom sanitary application, contact a Holland Sales Engineer today.