PyOIF

PyOIF simulates multi-cell flows of biological cells in complex fluidic geometries to study cell membrane mechanics, cell–cell interactions, and microfluidic transport phenomena such as cell sorting and flow fractionation.

Key Features:

• Multi-Cell Flow Modeling: Simulates single-cell, multi-cell, and dense cell suspensions within complex geometries to capture collective dynamics.
• Microfluidic Applications: Models flows in microfluidic channels and supports analysis of cell sorting, rare cell isolation, and flow fractionation.
• Cell-Membrane Mechanics: Enables evaluation of cell membrane mechanical properties and their influence on fluid dynamics and membrane interactions.
• Cell Interactions: Accounts for cell–cell interactions and emergent macroscopic phenomena including cell-free layer formation and apparent suspension viscosity changes.

Scientific Applications:

• Microfluidic device design and optimization: Supports analysis and optimization of devices for cell sorting, rare cell isolation, and flow fractionation.
• Cell and membrane mechanics studies: Enables investigation of membrane mechanical properties and processes such as cell degradation.
• Suspension rheology: Facilitates study of apparent suspension viscosity and its dependence on cell volume fraction and interactions.

Methodology:

Built as modifications to the ESPResSo framework, PyOIF represents cells as Python objects and executes fluid dynamics and interaction mechanics in a C++ computational core.