Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 12: Poster II

BP 12.27: Poster

Dienstag, 2. April 2019, 14:00–16:00, Poster B2

Simulation of visco-elastic behavior of cells in a microfluidic device — •Ralf Schuster, Tobias Neckernuss, Daniel Geiger, Jonas Pfeil, Kay Gottschalk, and Othmar Marti — Institute of Experimental Physics, Ulm University, D-89081 Ulm

Variations of structure and shape of cells play an important physiological role. For instance, tumor and normal cells can be distinguished by elasticity, indicated by the amount of deformation under given stress. The mechanical characterization of a certain cell type is meaningful to obtain (patho-) physiological insight. Simulations help to understand, verify and improve the analysis of deformation based cell characterization such as CAOS (1) or flow based cytometry (2). We aim to provide a simulation-based database for the mechanical deformation of cells in microfluidic channels. The variation of parameters of the viscoelastic models for the cells results in a library of possible cell deformation classes. The cell develops characteristic shapes, while moving through a microfluidic channel with varying width. We compare the cell*s deformation with measurements. We achieve efficient computations using a 2D-rotational symmetric model, based on Fluid-Structure-Interaction with a hyper-elastic material. Distortions of the mesh, due to strong deformations of the cell, often lead to computational instabilities. This challenge was mastered and our model is able to describe the deformation of the cell along the entire channel.

(1) Neckernuss (2018): Stretching adherent cells with light. Dissertation. (2) Otto et al., Real-time deformability cytometry: on-the-fly cell mechanical phenotyping, Nat. Methods, 2015