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

本研究将利用前沿跟踪/有限差分技术结合单场公式来求解流体流动和电场的控制方程，研究红细胞和白细胞在电场中的行为。单场方程适用于整个区域，并考虑了界面处的动量和电场跳跃条件。流体细胞和等离子体被认为是不可压缩的和牛顿的。将细胞与等离子体分离的界面建模为弹性膜，并使用适当的本构律将界面单元的应变能与其主拉伸相关联来找到界面力。探索电场驱动下单细胞的变形、可能的输运和旋转，以及二元细胞的融合和分离，并将观测结果量化。这项提议的研究将揭示一些以前没有探索过的问题的一些方面，例如使用电场的镰状细胞性贫血研究。涉及电场操纵生物细胞的基础研究目前主要是定性的，依赖于摄影研究或对整体行为的观察。虽然本研究的重点是单个细胞的行为或其中几个细胞的相互作用，但该方法非常适合涉及大量细胞的模拟。该方法建立在一个成功的数值方法的基础上，该数值方法对浮力驱动的气泡流动的理解状态产生了影响。这项研究的结果也将通过将结果纳入SIUC新成立的生物医学工程硕士学位的课程材料而带入课堂，PI是该课程的兼职教师。

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.