UC Irvine

Advances in the field of microfluidics show great promise for enhancing the fight against cancer. This technology enables the medical field to obtain more detailed information– specifically molecular characteristics of tumor cells. These molecular characteristics can provide additional information to make more accurate, earlier diagnoses and provide additional treatment options. The Haun Lab’s dissociation device provided the first stride towards reaching those targets. It mechanically disrupts aggregates and produces a sample containing majority singlets, enabling more accurate analysis results. The addition of a filtering mechanism to the outlet of this device will improve upon this concentration of singlets, while also providing a connection between sample preparation and analysis resulting in an increase in tumor cell yield.

A filter device was proposed to provide different processing tasks – 1.) partial disruption of lingering aggregates into singlets and 2.) concentration of singlets to undergo molecular analysis. Characterization of the filter device was conducted through a series of experiments that narrowed down pore size performance, filtration efficiency, and aggregate disruption. The direct-flow experiments showed an increase in singlet count with decreasing pore size, until a size limit was reached. There was also an observed 5% decrease in aggregates when incorporating the SEFAR 15µm filter. Due to the membrane’s well-define aperture structure, it was more than ideal for Filter 1. To improve filter efficiency, a tangential-filter device model was created. When this device was set to withdraw 80% of the effluent from the top outlet and 20% from the bottom, it became more efficient at generating singlets at higher flow rates.