Student: Ratul Paul
Project: Characterization of Red Blood Cell Damage Under Large Deformation
View: Research Poster (PDF) | Presentation (YouTube)
Department: Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
Advisor: Yaling Liu
Abstract
The behavior of red blood cell (RBCs) under high deformations and mechanical stresses is of great interest in many biomedical applications, such as in artificial hearts, hemodialysis machines, and ventricular assist devices. Under such high stresses, RBCs might experience sub-lytic damage in the form of temporary pore formation and hemoglobin release, or in more critical cases, complete rupture and lysis. This study utilizes a two-component coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) model and experimental methods to study the pore formation and cytoskeleton deformations during squeezing through a microfluidic channel. The focus is to find the pore formation criteria and the interaction of the cytoskeleton with the lipid bilayer and pores.
About Ratul Paul
Ratul Paul's research concerns the quantitative imaging and measurement of cell properties, cell damage evaluation, image processing, microfluidic device fabrication, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation for cell membrane, and finite element analysis in microfluidic channel.
Skills: Cell imaging, image processing, cleanroom processes (lithography, etching, mask fabrication, laser writing, etc), molecular dynamics simulation (MD), finite element analysis (FEA), 3D modeling, MEMS device prototyping