Design and Parameter Study of Integrated Microfluidic Platform for CTC Isolation and Enquiry; A Numerical Approach

• Main Authors: Amir Shamloo, Saba Ahmad, Maede Momeni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-06-01
• Series: Biosensors
• Subjects: microfluidic biochip; circulating tumor cell; magnetophoretic separation; electroosmotic mixing; numerical simulation; geometry optimization
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/8/2/56

Being the second cause of mortality across the globe, there is now a persistent effort to establish new cancer medication and therapies. Any accomplishment in treating cancers entails the existence of accurate identification systems empowering the early diagnosis. Recent studies indicate CTCs’ potential in cancer prognosis as well as therapy monitoring. The chief shortcoming with CTCs is that they are exceedingly rare cells in their clinically relevant concentration. Here, we simulated a microfluidic construct devised for immunomagnetic separation of the particles of interest from the background cells. This separation unit is integrated with a mixer subunit. The mixer is envisioned for mixing the CTC enriched stream with lysis buffer to extract the biological material of the cell. Some modification was proposed on mixing geometry improving the efficacy of the functional unit. A valuation of engaged forces was made and some forces were neglected due to their order of magnitude. The position of the magnet was also optimized by doing parametric study. For the mixer unit, the effect of applied voltage and frequency on mixing index was studied to find the optimal voltage and frequency which provides better mixing. Above-mentioned studies were done on isolated units and the effect of each functional unit on the other is not studied. As the final step, an integrated microfluidic platform composed of both functional subunits was simulated simultaneously. To ensure the independence of results from the grid, grid studies were also performed. The studies carried out on the construct reveal its potential for diagnostic application.