DLD pillar shape design for efficient separation of spherical and non-spherical bioparticles

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Biophysics

Background:

• Microfluidic particle sorting is crucial for biomedical applications.
• Conventional methods struggle with non-spherical bioparticle separation.
• Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) offers high resolution but lacks shape-sorting research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of pillar shape on bioparticle separation in DLD microfluidics.
• To develop novel DLD pillar designs for sorting particles of various shapes.
• To explore shape-dependent separation mechanisms in DLD.

Main Methods:

• Designed DLD pillar arrays with protrusions and grooves.
• Hypothesized protrusions induce rotation and grooves confine movement.
• Tested separation of spherical particles, red blood cells, and bacteria.

Main Results:

• Pillar shape significantly impacts particle separation.
• Protrusions and grooves induced inertial and rotational movements.
• Spherical particles showed enhanced separation; non-spherical particles rotated and oriented.

Conclusions:

• Novel DLD pillar designs enable efficient separation of diverse bioparticle shapes.
• Pillar geometry can control particle rotation and orientation for sorting.
• This method advances microfluidic sorting for complex biological samples.