Broken flow symmetry explains the dynamics of small particles in deterministic lateral displacement arrays
Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017
Recommended citation: Sung-Cheol Kim, Benjamin Wunsch, Huan Hu, Joshua Smith, Robert Austin, Gustavo Stolovitzky, "Broken flow symmetry explains the dynamics of small particles in deterministic lateral displacement arrays." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017. https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1706645114
1) A unified theoretical framework is introduced to explain the trajectories of different-sized particles in DLD.
2) The framework can be used to design arrays for size fractionation, even at nanoscales.
3) Experimental verification confirms the accuracy of the predictions made by the framework, and a condenser structure with full particle separation is developed using this model.
Abstract
Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) is a technique for size fractionation of particles in continuous flow that has shown great potential for biological and clinical applications. Several theoretical models have been proposed to explain the trajectories of different-sized particles in relation to the geometry of the pillar array, but experimental evidence has demonstrated that a rich class of intermediate migration behavior exists, which is not predicted by models. In this work, we present a unified theoretical framework to infer the trajectory of particles in the whole array on the basis of trajectories in the unit cell. This framework explains many of the unexpected particle trajectories reported in literature and can be used to design arrays for the fractionation of particles, even at the smallest scales reaching the molecular realm. We also performed experiments that verified our predictions, even at the nanoscales. Using our model as a set of design rules, we developed a condenser structure that achieves full particle separation with a single fluidic input. Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) is a technique for size fractionation of particles in continuous flow that has shown great potential for biological applications. Several theoretical models have been proposed, but experimental evidence has demonstrated that a rich class of intermediate migration behavior exists, which is not predicted. We present a unified theoretical framework to infer the path of particles in the whole array on the basis of trajectories in a unit cell. This framework explains many of the unexpected particle trajectories reported and can be used to design arrays for even nanoscale particle fractionation. We performed experiments that verify these predictions and used our model to develop a condenser array that achieves full particle separation with a single fluidic input.