Design and simulation of a novel MEMS based microfluidic circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection system for a lab on a chip device

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel microfluidic system for a lab on a chip device which includes three major systems: a microchannel, micromixer and a droplet generator. The novel system proposes electroosmotic fluid flow control combining droplet generation and immunocapturing based CTC separation. ANSYS Fluent is used to optimize the fluid flow parameters, droplet size and justify the mixing capability of the micromixer. COMSOL Multiphysics simulations justify the integration of the electroosmotic fluid flow control for precise generation of droplets and optimization of dimensional parameters of microchannels, followed by a fabrication method for the microfluidic system.