A computational study of single cells trapping inside a microfluidic channel

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the simulation results from a computational model of cell-like object flow in a microfluidic device. This work is important because computational models are needed to design miniaturized biomedical devices which leverage microfluidics technology. Microfluidic devices are important for the single cell analysis such as cell adhesion and single cell electrical properties studies which could lead to many significant applications including early disease diagnosis. The aims of this study are to trap a single cell-like object in the micro-well and to obtain the optimized micro-channel water flow rate and micro-well suction rate using finite element analysis. This study presents numerical solutions from the finite element analysis simulation using ABAQUS-FEA software to analyze the effects of suction rate and depth of the micro-well for a single cell trapping in a microfluidic device. According to the simulation results, a single cell-like object able to be trap into the micro-well with the optimized well's depth and suitable micro-channel's flow rate and micro-well's holes suction rate.