Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) is a promising technique for the separation of mesoscopic objects of biological interest, ranging from cells to exosomes. Even though DLD has been studied for two decades, a theoretical approach for predicting the performance of DLD device is yet to be developed. The simultaneous presence of different forces acting on suspended particles makes it extremely difficult to predict experimental results quantitatively. This project aims to develop and validate a theoretical model for characterizing and predicting particle transport in nanoscale DLD devices.
As discussed above, to date a reliable model of particle transport in DLD devices is not available in the literature, and this project aims at filling this knowledge gap. In turn, the availability of a predictive tool for tackling the performance of nano-scale DLD [1] separators can hardly be overestimated in terms of practical relevance, and it may constitute the turning point for bringing this separation technique from the prototype to the commercial stage.
[1]Nanoscale lateral displacement arrays for the separation of exosomes and colloids down to 20 nm Benjamin H. Wunsch, Joshua T. Smith , Stacey M. Gifford , Chao Wang , Markus Brink , Robert L. Bruce1, Robert H. Austin, Gustavo Stolovitzky and Yann Astier