Numerical simulation of circulating tumor cell separation in a dielectrophoresis based Y-Y shaped microfluidic device

Abstract Highly efficient separation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from bio-samples to facilitate early diagnosis of cancers is important but challenging. The dielctrophresis based microfluidic technology has become one of promising solutions. Herein, we report a numerical study of CTC separation technique based on low voltage dielctrophresis in a novel Y-Y shaped microchannel to separate liver cancer cell HL-7702 from blood samples. Numerical simulations have been performed to track the cell moving trajectories by solving coupled equations of electric field and flow field. The effects of the flowrate ratio and the electrode voltage were investigated. The optimal operation conditions with applied electrical potential from 1.6 V to 2.2 V, and inlet velocity ratio from 1.9 to 2.5 can lead to CTC separation efficiency of approximately 99%, according to the numerical results. The microdevice design is simple and doesn’t require complicated fabrication process nor high voltage input. This work provides a feasible route for developing an efficient and low-cost DEP based microfluidic method for CTC isolation and further detection.