Rational design of microfluidic pumps incorporating actively beating cilia

A system for designing a microfluidic device, the system comprising:

• a computing device having a processor and memory in electrical communication with the processor, the computing device configured to execute steps of:
• receiving an input design of a bare microfluidic channel to which a one or more cilia layers are to be added, the bare microfluidic channel having a predetermined cross section, the bare microfluidic channel defining an inner surface and an outer surface, a first direction being a fluid flow direction along a length of the bare microfluidic channel and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;
• receiving operation parameters for a ciliated microfluidic channel formed from the bare microfluidic channel, the operation parameters including fluid viscosity and an opposing pressure gradient in an adverse direction to the fluid flow direction;
• and
• determining cilia design parameters for the one or more cilia layers to be attached to and distributed over the inner surface, the cilia design parameters being determined from the incompressible Brinkman equation.