3D printed microfluidics for studies of active biomolecular systems by XPCS

We propose XPCS experiments using 3D printed microfluidic devices to study dynamics in biomolecular and soft matter systems. The microfluidic system will allow us to study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of complex fluids under conditions of flow, hydrodynamic mixing, self-assembly, and condensate formation in complex biomolecular systems. The microfluidic system has been developed at the PSCM and we have recently tested it during beamtime SC-5574 at ID10 EH2. It will allow us to extract the flow-independent correlation function. As a first out-of-equilibrium process, we will study the rupturing of small unilamellar lipid vesicles, as initiated by a gradient in osmotic pressure (by mixing flow of two channels). The XPCS signal will be enhanced by adding highly scattering SiO2 colloids, which act as reporters for the ‘active’ medium with vesicles and vesicle fragments ‘energized’ by rupturing and fusion.