Féderation de recherche Fabri de Peiresc

Fluid structure interaction of a microcapsule in flow : application to the characterization, enrichment and sorting of capsule suspensions

Orateur : Anne-Virginie Salsac
Biomechanics and Bioengineering Laboratory, Université de Technologie de Compiègne

Abstract : Capsules consisting of a liquid droplet enclosed by a thin membrane are commonly encountered in nature in the form of cells, and in industrial processes (for instance to encapsulate active substances for targeted release). The wall mechanical properties are essential to guarantee the particle integrity and the release of the internal contents when and where necessary. However, when the capsules have a diameter of the order of a few tens of micrometers or less, it is very difficult to assess the mechanical properties of the membrane.

Modification of cell rigidity can, furthermore, be the consequence of diseases like cancers. Sorting cells based on their rigidity open interesting perspectives to differentiate between two cell populations, since conventional biological methods are known to be expensive. So far, most of the methods that have been designed to sort rare blood cells use the cell density or size as sorting parameters. We will see that microfluidic approaches can not only be used to characterize the mechanical properties of deformable capsules, but also sort them upon their rigidity or increase enrich suspensions.

I will briefly present how the three-dimensional fluid-structure interactions may be modeled in small to low inertial regimes and mostly detail the application of numerical simulations and microfluidic experimentations to characterize, enrich and sort suspensions.

Date et lieu : le vendredi 10 mai 2019, à 11h00, salle de séminaires IRPHE