AUTHOR=Vitolo Angela , Villone Massimiliano M. , Maffettone Pier Luca 

TITLE=Numerical study of the effects of hydrodynamic interactions among cells for microfluidic holographic cyto-tomography

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2024.1345966

DOI=10.3389/fphy.2024.1345966

ISSN=2296-424X

ABSTRACT=If the cells contained in a suspension flowing along a microfluidic channel rotate while passing through the field of view (FOV) of a holographic microscope, they can be probed by a light beam from many different angles. From this, it is possible to retrieve the 3D refractive index map of each flowing cell, i.e., a 3D phase-contrast tomogram. To properly design microfluidic devices allowing to do that, it is important to understand the effects of the hydrodynamic interactions among cells on their in-flow rotation. Here, we investigate through direct numerical simulations the dynamics of clusters of cells suspended in a Newtonian liquid subjected to pressure-driven flow in a microfluidic channel with the aim of elucidating the effects of the hydrodynamic interactions on cell rotational behaviour and mechanical deformation.