Tunable microfluidic chips for isolating circulating cancer cells

The analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTC) using lab-on-chip technologies could determine whether cancer is about to spread or monitor the progress of treatment. The objective of CTC analysis is to detect, identify and count these cells in peripheral blood. By characterization of the trapped CTC their genetic and pathophysiological relevance to the primary tumor can be identified. The project aims at creating a microfluidic chip for isolating circulating tumor cells based on nano-magnetic technology. The microfluidic chip will be tunable using nano-magnetic structures such as ferrofluids, self-organized magnetic particles, or magnetically active polymeric actuators. The key and unique feature of the proposed microfluidic chip will be that the device can be tuned to maximize the sensitivity and yield for a specific type of cancer. Tuning is done by a magnetic field created outside the micro-fluidic channel. The key advantage of the proposed technology is that only a single device is needed to investigate various types of cancer. The tunable CTC chip can be applied for cancer biology research and clinical cancer management including including the detection, diagnosis and monitoring of cancer.