DEVELOPING A DIGITAL TWIN FOR SINGLE-CELL MECHANICAL PHENOTYPING MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES

Microfluidics can be used to characterize individual cells in a population based on their mechanical traits. In this work, we digitally replicate the microfluidic device developed by Li et al. [1] and perform simulations of a representative AP-1060 cell. We show that the numerical model is able to recover whole-cell deformability index, a metric used to quantify the resistance of cells to compressive deformation, within 3% of the experimental average. These results pave the way for future studies which utilize experimental and computational approaches to optimize geometric design parameters, complement signal analysis, and enhance the acquisition of mechanical information.

Duke Scholars

Author Amanda Randles Biomedical Engineering