Small capsules with big impact

Alessandro and Michael, what are the applications of your microcapsules?

Our microcapsules can be used for a wide range of products; for example, in cosmetics and pharma or for food and agrochemistry. The game changer of our technology is that we are able to produce these capsules in large volumes, all at the same size. Since they all have the exact same size, they all behave exactly the same. Hence, our microcapsules can carry medication, fragrances, or flavors and deliver a tailored release, precise dosing, and a specific uptake. Take for example a microparticle as drug delivery platform: The precision in size allows the direct control of where and at which time the medication is released in our body.

The video shows one of our glass devices forming a size controlled emulsion in real-time. The droplets are then used as a template to create microcapsules or particles.

What is the novelty of your technology?

The state of the art in microencapsulation allows you to either produce large quantities with a non-uniform size distribution or uniform size distribution but only on lab scale. Through upscaling and parallelization Microcaps has managed  to increase the throughput of uniform microcapsules by three orders of magnitude (1000x) compared to state-of-the-art approaches. By massively parallelizing tiny fluid channels in a glass device, we are able to process a vast variety of different materials, all with the same device.

What are the benefits and why is size control so important?

Today’s microencapsulated products have neither control of the average particle size nor of the particle size distribution. This is an insufficient solution for many products. We believe it to be essential to know when, where, and how much of a medication is going to our body. Knowing how a specific particle size behaves in our body, combined with the ability to precisely manufacture said particles is a novelty for the industry. Not only does this increase the drug efficiency, but also has the potential to decrease side effects for patients. In the cosmetics industry there is an additional advantage of size controlled microcapsules. They arrange in a crystalline manner which has wonderful visual effects.

What is your vision and what are your goals for next year?

We plan to further develop the newest generation of drug delivery platforms. We would like to found the company within the next two months and get the ETH spin-off label. At the moment we are looking for specific pilot projects with industy partners and to strengthen our team with experts in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic field.