Chemical Engineering Seminar

We are developing general strategies to passively manipulate particles and fluids using simple geometric modifications within microchannels. Our approaches make use of fluid inertia, generally neglected in microfluidic systems, to create well-defined directional forces and fluid deformations that can be combined in a sequential and hierarchical manner to program complex particle and fluid motions. We apply these fundamental techniques to a variety of applications in cell separation and analysis. I will expand on one application that integrates inertial focusing, extensional flow, and automated high-speed image analysis for high-throughput cell classification of clinical samples based on biomechanical properties. Low complexity modular components to manipulate cells, particles, and fluid streams in which inertial fluid physics is abstracted from the designer can transform biological, chemical, and materials automation in a similar fashion to how modular control of electrons and abstraction of semiconductor physics transformed computation.