Experimental and theoretical study of hydrodynamics of solid particle transport in small scale

在小尺度上操纵固体颗粒有许多应用，包括血液学实验室中的血细胞计数，用于植入和药物发现的器官的制造，从饮用水中去除细菌和监测空气污染中的颗粒物浓度。这些应用中的许多应用的效率在很大程度上取决于颗粒与周围流体的相互作用。然而，这些相互作用的表征变得更具挑战性，因为这些小型化技术的长度和时间尺度减小。 拟议的研究计划将侧重于快速变化的小规模流动中固体颗粒传输的理论和实验方面，并直接应用于生物打印领域。生物打印技术的出现是为了满足人们日益增长的对开发模拟人体行为的活组织结构的需求，并可用于药物开发或功能器官的制造。作为新一代的生物打印机，喷墨打印机已被用于控制分配的活细胞和生物材料成特定的图案由计算机设计。然而，目前的喷墨生物打印机缺乏一致性，并面临其他问题，包括频繁的喷嘴堵塞。 拟议的计划将通过研究喷墨喷嘴和微流体通道内的细胞运输从根本上解决上述挑战。特别是，将开发高速成像设置和数值模型来表征喷墨单元打印系统的性能。为了增加喷墨细胞打印的可靠性，将探索粘弹性生物墨水的使用;将研究生物墨水的流变操纵对细胞打印一致性的影响。 这项新研究计划的基础知识可以应用于小规模处理固体颗粒的技术开发。这些技术将加强加拿大作为先进制造业和生物技术领域领先国家的地位。将在该计划中接受培训的HQP将非常适合加入这些各自工业领域不断增长的就业市场。

The manipulation of solid particles in small scales has numerous applications including blood cell counting in hematology labs, fabrication of organs for implants and drug discovery, removal of bacteria from drinking water and monitoring particulate matter concentrations in air pollution. The efficiency of many of these applications strongly depends on the interaction of the particles with the surrounding fluid. The characterization of these interactions, however, becomes more challenging due to the decreased length and time scales in these miniaturized technologies. The proposed research program will focus on the theoretical and experimental aspects of the solid particle transport in rapidly changing small scale flows with direct application in the field of bio-printing. Bio-printing technologies have emerged to address the growing need for developing living tissue constructs that mimic the behaviour of the human body, and can be used for drug development or fabrication of functioning organs. As a new generation of bio-printers, inkjet printers have been utilized for controlled dispensing of living cells and biomaterials into specific patterns designed by computers. However, current inkjet bio-printers lack consistency, and face other problems including frequent nozzle clogging. The proposed program will fundamentally address the above mentioned challenges through the study of cell transport within the inkjet nozzles and microfluidic channels. In particular, a high speed imaging setup and numerical model will be developed to characterize the performance of inkjet cell printing systems. To increase the inkjet cell printing reliability, the use of viscoelastic bio-inks will be explored; the effects of rheological manipulation of bio-inks on the cell printing consistency will be studied. The fundamental knowledge of this novel research program can be applied in the development of technologies for handling solid particles in the small scale. These technologies will strengthen Canada's position as a leading country in advanced manufacturing and biotechnology fields. The HQP that will be trained in this program will be well suited to join the growing job market of these respective industrial fields.