SGER: Fundamental studies on manipulation of red and white blood cells by electric field

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0844501 EsmaeeliThis study will investigate the behavior of red and white blood cells in electric field using a front tracking/finite difference technique in conjunction with a one-field formulation to solve the governing equations of fluid flow and electric field. The one-field equations are valid for the entire domain and account for the momentum and electric field jump conditions at the interface. The fluid cell and the plasma are considered incompressible and Newtonian. The interface separating the cell from the plasma is modeled as an elastic membrane and the interfacial forces are found using appropriate constitutive laws that relate the strain energies of interface elements to their principal stretches. The deformation and possible transport and rotation of a single cell, as well as fusion and separation of binary cells driven by electric field will be explored and the observations will be quantified. The proposed research will shed some light on some aspects of the problem that have not been explored before, such as sickle cell anemia studies using electric field. Fundamental studies involving manipulation of biological cells with electric field is currently mostly qualitative in nature, relying on photographic studies or observations of the bulk behavior. While the focus of this study is on the behavior of a single cell or interactions of a few of them, the method is well-suited for simulations involving a large number of cells. The methodology builds on a successful numerical method that has had impact on the state of the understanding of buoyancy-driven bubbly flows. The results of this study will be also brought to the classroom by incorporating the results into the course materials for the newly established M.Sc. degree in biomedical engineering at SIUC for which the PI is an adjunct faculty.