IB-LBM simulation on blood cell sorting with a micro-fence structure.

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Accurate separation of blood cells like red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs) is crucial for diagnostics and therapies.
• Existing cell sorting methods often face challenges with throughput, efficiency, and cell viability.
• Computational modeling offers a powerful approach to design and optimize microfluidic devices for cell separation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel size-based blood cell sorting model utilizing a micro-fence structure.
• To investigate the efficacy of the immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) for simulating blood cell dynamics and separation.
• To determine the optimal design parameters, specifically the slope angle of the micro-fence posts, for efficient RBC and WBC separation.

Main Methods:

• Employed the immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) to simulate fluid dynamics and cell behavior.
• Designed a micro-fence structure with two parallel slope post rows for differential cell separation.
• Investigated the effects of varying slope angles and pore widths on the sorting of red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs).

Main Results:

• The IB-LBM simulations successfully demonstrated size-based separation of RBCs and WBCs.
• A small slope angle resulted in improper separation, while a large angle caused significant blockage by WBCs.
• An adaptive slope angle was identified as optimal for continuous and accurate sorting of RBCs from WBCs.

Conclusions:

• The proposed micro-fence model, simulated using IB-LBM, provides an effective platform for size-based blood cell sorting.
• The slope angle of the micro-fence posts is a critical parameter influencing sorting efficiency and continuity.
• Optimizing the slope angle allows for precise and continuous separation of RBCs and WBCs, paving the way for improved microfluidic cell sorting technologies.