Abate, Adam R.Rotem, AssafThiele, JulianWeitz, David A.2019-10-092011Abate, Adam R., Assaf Rotem, Julian Thiele, and David A. Weitz. 2011. “Efficient Encapsulation with Plug-Triggered Drop Formation.” Physical Review E84 (3): 031502. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.031502.1539-37551550-2376http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41511245Monodisperse microscale drops formed with microfluidic devices are useful for encapsulating cells, microgel particles, or even additional drops. These techniques are thus useful for applications ranging from high-throughput biology to monodisperse particle and capsule synthesis, which require encapsulation of such objects. However, it is challenging to efficiently encapsulate the objects in all drops; often, the objects are encapsulated inefficiently, resulting in many improperly filled, unusable drops. Here, we describe a phenomenon that allows very efficient encapsulation. We use the inflow of the object to plug the drop maker nozzle; the continued injection of the outer phase pinches off a drop, thereby encapsulating the object; this yields precisely one object encapsulated per drop.en-USJournal Article2019-10-0910.1103/PhysRevE.84.031502