Modeling the motion and detection of particles in microcantilever sensor cells

Abstract

Consideration of the dynamics of the liquid is often neglected in experiments carried out in flow-through microcantilever sensor cells. Thus, fluid dynamics simulations were performed showing that the geometry of the sensor cell and laminar nature of the flow may result in a highly uneven distribution of particulates throughout the cell, and hence an uneven detection rate at individual cantilevers in a multi-lever setup. Various strategies for diverting flow were tested in order to optimize particle capture rates. Additionally, DNA detection experiments were performed that validated our approximations in treating particle-cantilever interactions and provided a semi-quantitative relationship between simulated particle detection and actual cantilever deflections. The results point out the advantages of flow optimization, the need for calibration of individual cantilevers within a multi-lever cell, and the usefulness of simulation in achieving these goals. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.