Investigation & Optimisation of Microfluidics channel using COMSOL

Abstract

The life of a patient with any kind of cancer depends on early cancer identification. According to a UK national census research, the average survival rate for people with stage 3 cancer and more fell from 80% to less than 30%. These patients included those with bowel, breast, lung, ovary, esophageal, and melanoma.[1].Modern diagnostic methods include, among other things, genome sequencing and fresh tissue biopsy, which are costly, need operating on the patient, and may take weeks to get findings. Since epithelial malignancies frequently transfer tumor cells into the circulation, the presence and quantity of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are important markers of the disease. Currently used techniques include physical filtration with commercial filters and density-based separation utilizing centrifugation. These methods do, however, have several significant drawbacks, including the requirement for costly equipment, lengthy processing periods, strict sample preparation to avoid contamination, and limited CTC recovery. A viable substitute is provided by microfluidics, which has faster outcomes, better separation, and less complicated apparatus. The reverse wavy channels from Zhou et al.'s work are used in our design. al [2] and by enclosing the whole channel in a circle, more turns may be included into the design in a comparatively small area, which might result in lower manufacturing costs, a smaller device footprint overall, and less pressure loss as compared to longer channels. The separation properties of CTCs from blood cells are examined in this study at Aspect Ratios in order to identify the ideal operating and separation parameters. It is shown that greatest separation occurs at an Aspect Ratio of 0.32. Additionally, four reverse wavy channel designs show substantial separation, suggesting that fewer channel patterns may be used to minimize the device's footprint even further.