Particle manipulation and separation in micro-flows via acoustic waves

微/纳米颗粒的操作和分离在许多领域变得至关重要。从血液中分离健康细胞和癌细胞是当今生物医学中非常重要的一个经典例子，目前还没有有效的技术可用。微流体技术为高性能操作和分类应用提供了有希望的功能，因为它允许对驱动力进行精确和准确的控制。在可应用的不同驱动力场中，超声波驱动的声学力经常被使用，因为它们允许对颗粒和细胞悬浮液进行温和、无标签和纯机械操作。当前提案的目的是研究和改进声流控微系统，应用于颗粒操作和分选，以实现现实的临床颗粒分选条件（高通量，高粘度，不同颗粒可变形性和形状）。这一目标将通过前沿实验测速和粒子跟踪技术与数值模拟工具相结合来实现。

The manipulation and separation of micro/nano-particles is becoming essential in several fields. Separating healthy cells from cancer cells in a blood stream is a classic example in biomedicine of great importance nowadays and for which there are currently no effective techniques available. Microfluidic technology provides promising features for high-performance manipulation and sorting applications as it allows precise and accurate control of the driving forces. Among the different driving force fields that could be applied, ultrasound-driven acoustic forces have often been used since they allow for gentle, label-free and purely mechanical manipulation of particle and cell suspensions. The aim of the current proposal is to investigate and improve acoustofluidic micro-systems, with applications for particle manipulation and sorting, to allow for realistic clinical particle sorting conditions (high throughput, high viscosity, different particle deformability, and shape). This aim will be achieved using front-edge experimental velocimetry and particle tracking techniques combined with numerical simulation tools.