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Sharp-edged geometric obstacles in microfluidics promote deformability-based sorting of cells

Zunmin Zhang, Wei Chien, Ewan Henry, Dmitry A. Fedosov*, and Gerhard Gompper†

  • Theoretical Soft Matter and Biophysics, Institute of Complex Systems and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

  • *d.fedosov@fz-juelich.de
  • †g.gompper@fz-juelich.de
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Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 024201 – Published 13 February, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.4.024201

Abstract

Sorting cells based on their intrinsic properties is a highly desirable objective, since changes in cell deformability are often associated with various stress conditions and diseases. Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) devices offer high precision for rigid spherical particles, while their success in sorting deformable particles remains limited due to the complexity of cell traversal in DLD devices. We employ mesoscopic hydrodynamics simulations and demonstrate prominent advantages of sharp-edged DLD obstacles for probing deformability properties of red blood cells (RBCs). By consecutive sharpening of the pillar shape from circular to diamond to triangular cross-section, a pronounced cell bending around an edge is achieved, serving as a deformability sensor. Bending around the edge is the primary mechanism which governs the traversal of RBCs through such a DLD device. This strategy requires an appropriate degree of cell bending by fluid stresses, which can be controlled by the flow rate, and exhibits good sensitivity to moderate changes in cell deformability. We expect that similar mechanisms should be applicable for the development of novel DLD devices that target intrinsic properties of many other cells.

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Synopsis

Sorting Blood Cells via Their Stiffness

Published 13 February, 2019

A proposed modification to a microfluidic cell-sorting device could separate cells by their deformability, an important marker for several diseases.

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 024201– Published 13 February, 2019
  • Received 10 October 2018
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