Structural design of microfluidic channels for blood plasma separation

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Clinical Diagnostics

Background:

• Plasma separation from whole blood is vital for over 90% of blood diagnostic tests.
• Current microfluidic devices face challenges in achieving high purity and yield.
• Point-of-care diagnostics require efficient and reliable plasma separation methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and investigate a novel structural design for microfluidic channels for enhanced blood plasma separation.
• To analyze the geometrical effects of microchannels on plasma separation efficiency.
• To achieve an optimal design for a multi-bifurcation plasma separator.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Euler-Euler Laminar Flow Model in COMSOL Multiphysics for blood flow simulation.
• Fabricated and tested microfluidic chips with various separating microchannel designs.
• Investigated the impact of channel geometry, bifurcation corner radius, and angles on plasma separation.

Main Results:

• Curved channels showed limited cell migration at low flow rates and were problematic at high flow rates due to complex flow dynamics.
• Abrupt changes in flow direction at bifurcations significantly improved plasma purity and yield.
• An optimal multi-bifurcation design was achieved by balancing flow resistances.

Conclusions:

• The proposed microfluidic channel design offers improved plasma separation efficiency.
• Geometric parameters, particularly abrupt flow direction changes, are critical for optimizing plasma separators.
• The developed design holds promise for advanced clinical laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic applications.