Inertial flow focusing: a case study in optimizing cellular trajectory through a microfluidic MEMS device for timing-cri
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Inertial flow focusing: a case study in optimizing cellular trajectory through a microfluidic MEMS device for timing-critical applications Luke H.C. Patterson 1 & Jennifer L. Walker 1 & Mark A. Naivar 2 & Evelyn Rodriguez-Mesa 2 & Mehran R. Hoonejani 2 & Kevin Shields 2 & John S. Foster 2 & Adele M. Doyle 1,3 & Megan T. Valentine 1,3 Kimberly L. Foster 1,4
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# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Although microfluidic micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) are well suited to investigate the effects of mechanical force on large populations of cells, their high-throughput capabilities cannot be fully leveraged without optimizing the experimental conditions of the fluid and particles flowing through them. Parameters such as flow velocity and particle size are known to affect the trajectories of particles in microfluidic systems and have been studied extensively, but the effects of temperature and buffer viscosity are not as well understood. In this paper, we explored the effects of these parameters on the timing of our own cellimpact device, the μHammer, by first tracking the velocity of polystyrene beads through the device and then visualizing the impact of these beads. Through these assays, we find that the timing of our device is sensitive to changes in the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces that particles experience while traveling through the device. This sensitivity provides a set of parameters that can serve as a robust framework for optimizing device performance under various experimental conditions, without requiring extensive geometric redesigns. Using these tools, we were able to achieve an effective throughput over 360 beads/s with our device, demonstrating the potential of this framework to improve the consistency of microfluidic systems that rely on precise particle trajectories and timing. Keywords Cell impact . Dynamic cell compression . Microfluidics . MEMS . Inertial focusing . Reynolds number
1 Introduction The inherently heterogeneous nature of biological cell populations demands robust, high-throughput assays to effectively investigate the consequences of mechanical impacts on cell properties and functions (Desmaële et al. 2011). Although a number of technologies exist to study how impact affects cells (Loh et al. 2009), few do so with the throughput and tunable impact parameters of a microfluidic MEMS device like the * Luke H.C. Patterson [email protected] 1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
2
Owl biomedical, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
3
Neuroscience Research Institute, and Center for Bioengineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
4
Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, and Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
μHammer (Patterson et al. 2019). This high strain, high strain rate cell-impact device is fabricated out of single-crystal silicon and has a magnetically actuated Ni–Fe armature in
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