Tunable microfluidic chips for isolating circulating tumor cells
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Beschreibung
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detach from a tumor and can remain in the blood even after the tumor is removed. Their presence increases the chance of new tumors developing. Microfluidic lab-on-chips help to detect, identify and count these cells in peripheral blood. In patients with advanced cancer the estimated ratio of tumor cells to blood cells is one to one billion. Any successful assessment of CTCs in cancer therapy or aftercare investigations requires detection and isolation of the few tumor cells in the blood. In order to have enough cells for further investigations, the capture efficiency and the capture purity should be high.
The aim of this work is the development of new versatile technologies for the isolation of single viable CTCs. Magnetic field gradients are used for tuning the geometry and particular filter structures. The micro-fluidic chips will be based on self-organizing or guided self-assembly of micromagnetic beads and flexible magneto-active microposts in a microfluidic channel. Mechano-elastic properties of the blood cells in combination with attracting antibodies separate CTCs from remaining cells.
Numerical simulation tools are developed to design the above mentioned chip technologies.
Autor*in
Markus Gusenbauer