Liquid Marble as Micro - Bioreactor

Liquid marbles can be used as micro-bioreactors, thanks to their unique properties. On the one hand, the highly porous, non-adhesive, and hydrophobic shell of liquid marbles efficiently inhibits any direct contact between the liquid core of the marble and the surface that supports it, while allowing oxygen and carbon dioxide to pass through. On the other hand, the finite volume of liquid in liquid marbles is capable of containing microorganisms and cells, providing suitable growth conditions for the microorganisms and cells. Moreover, due to their soft and flexible structure, liquid marbles can be manipulated rather easily when required; hence biological reactions or assays inside liquid marbles can be conveniently controlled. The combination of these properties account for the high efficiency of micro-bioreactors made of liquid marbles for applications such as conducting biochemical reactions, microorganism culturing and 3D cell spheroid culturing.