A simulation to improve the microfluidic channel applying for the separation of cancer cells from bloodstream using the dielectrophoresis method

Received: 19/12/2021 Detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has emerged as an attractive solution in the early identification of cancers. Typically, CTCs as well as cancerous cells are significant bigger than normal blood cells in size. This study presents computational investigations of a DEP method-integrated continuous microfluidic channel for the CTCs separation. Appropriate excitation potential and volumetric throughput conditions were applied to effectively isolate CTCs from normal cells in blood samples. The performance of the separation process was evaluated by observing the cell trajectories. Various channel designs were also considered to find the optimal configuration. The results indicated that CTCs would be separated from blood cells (including WBCs, RBCs, PLTs) with very excellent recovery and purity rates at a suitable channel height and a bloodstream flow rate up to 10 μL/min. The study can provide valuable insights into the design of the microfluidic devices to capture cancerous cells in different bio-applications. Revised: 16/02/0222