A Microfluidic Channel for Separation of Circulating Tumor Cells from Blood Cells Using Dielectrophoresis and Its Performance Analysis Using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System

In this work, a simple electrode arrangement is proposed for a microfluidic channel that utilizes dielectrophoresis and fluid dynamics to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood cells that can be used effectively in microfluidic channels. Dielectrophoresis mechanism aided the microfluidic channel that has been made considering the Clausius-Mossotti (CM) factor, electrical and other mechanical properties of white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC) and CTC particles to accumulate the rare CTCs being isolated from WBCs and RBCs to a specified outlet. A comparative analysis of the microfluidic channel for various ranges of inlet velocity and applied electric fields by computer-assisted multi-physics simulations using the Finite Element Method (FEM) with various governing parameters using COMSOL, MATLAB, and MyDEP software has been done in this study to validate the performance of the proposed microfluidic channel which showed 100% separation efficiency (SE) and separation purity (SP) for 4V peak-to-peak applied voltage on the electrodes. Analysis of the inputs and outputs from the simulation model has been done to suggest specific values of inputs for the most efficient separation of the microfluidic channel through Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS).