Thesis
Modelling the passing process of circulating tumor cells squeezing through a deformation-based microfluidic CTC chip
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2017
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101458
Abstract
As a leading cause of death worldwide, cancer has been receiving extensive research in recent decades, with many studies focusing on Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs), i.e., cancer cells shed into the circulating bloodstream from a primary tumor site. The CTCs flow with the blood plasma through the circulation system, settle down at the end the capillary, and finally generate new tumor sites in remote organs. Thus, the CTCs are mainly responsible for initiating metastases, and can be used as an indicator of early cancer. Since the detection of CTCs shows strong promise for early cancer diagnosis, investigations of CTCs and related detection methods such as deformation-based microfluidic CTC chips have been playing a significant role. For the design and optimization of high throughput and reliability CTC chips, the characterization of important parameters (e.g. pressure drop) in the microfluidic chip during the CTC passing process is essential to the device sensitivity and filtering performance, and must be given very thoughtful consideration. Although insights have been provided by previous researches, there is still a lack of understanding of the fundamental physics and complex interplay between tumor cell and the flow inside the microfluidic filtering channel. In this paper, the cell squeezing process through a microchannel is modeled by solving the governing equations for microscopic multiphase flows, with the tumor cell modeled by the liquid drop model and the immiscible cell-blood interface tracked by the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Detailed dynamics regarding the filtering process is discussed, including the cell deformation, passing pressure signature, the relationship between the pressure drop and the cell properties (e.g. viscosity, rigidity, cell nucleus size), as well as the effects of flow conditions. Current simulation shows a good agreement with analytic results. Quantitative formulas are proposed for quick characterization of the important device parameters (e.g. system pressure). Our study provides insights into the fluid physics of the CTC passing through process, and the proposed formula can be readily applied to the design and optimization of deformability-based microfluidic chips for CTC detection.
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Details
- Title
- Modelling the passing process of circulating tumor cells squeezing through a deformation-based microfluidic CTC chip
- Creators
- Xiaolong Zhang
- Contributors
- Xiaolin Chen (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525019501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis