Summary: UCLA researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering developed a platform that applies high-speed fluidic jet injection of biomolecules into biological samples with the use of laser actuated supercritical injector (LASI). Background: Intracellular delivery of various biomolecules has been of great importance in biomedical research for cancer therapy, gene editing, and intracellular environment probing. Currently the challenges in existing transfer platforms are intracellular delivery for suspension cells, incorporation of nanotechnology, and large cargo delivery. Therefore, there is a need for a new delivery system that can address the current delivery challenges to further biomedical research. Innovation: UCLA researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering developed a method for biomolecule delivery with the use of a photothermal device. The platform LASI (laser actuated supercritical injector) allowed for high-speed fluidic jet injection into biological samples such as cells and tissue by laser irradiation. The laser-induced cavitation generated transient pores in cell membrane to facilitate intracellular delivery of extracellular cargo. The platform allowed for delivery efficiencies of > 84% for small molecules and 45% for large molecules in cells. The LASI platform can be expanded and applied for high efficiency, high viability, safe and high throughput cell intracellular delivery, which creates numerous opportunities in biomedicine. Potential Applications: • Gene editing • Cancer therapy • Biomedicine delivery • Therapeutic delivery Advantages: • High throughput • High efficiency • High cell viability • Large cargo delivery • High speed fluidic jet injection Development to Date: Prototype that provided delivery of small and large molecules into suspension cells as first successful demonstration. Related Papers: Man, T., Zhu, X., Chow, Y. T., Dawson, E. R., Wen, X., Patananan, A. N., Liu, T. L., Zhao, C., Wu, C., Hong, J. S., Chung, P.-S., Clemens, D. L., Lee, B.-Y, Weiss, P. S., Teitell, M. A., Chiou, P. Y., “Intracellular Photothermal Delivery for Suspension Cells Using Sharp Nanoscale Tips in Microwells” ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b06025, 2019.