A novel filtration approach to create small unilamellar liposomes for drug delivery

Nanoscale drug carriers have quickly risen to the forefront of translational research and promise to play a prominent role in point of care applications. The protocol for synthesizing these particles typically relies on extensive secondary post processing techniques (e.g. extrusion, dialysis, or ultracentrifugation) that are time consuming and can lead to a net loss in either the number of particles or amount of encapsulated molecules. Here we utilize filter centrifugation to efficiently purify and concentrate liposomal particle solutions. Using this technique, we are able to remove 99.99% of nonencapsulated molecules from solution in less than half of the time required for ultracentrifugation without net loss of particles from the solution.