In Digital Holography (DH) modality for lab-on-chip applications, the cells passing through the Field of View (FOV) of a microscope can be detected and analyzed even if they are flowing at different depths in a microfluidic channel. If the cells rotate while flowing along the channel, they can be probed by light beams from many different directions while they cross the holographic FOV, thus, it is possible to retrieve the 3D refractive index map of each flowing cell, i.e., a 3D phase-contrast tomogram. Since in biological samples many cells flow close to each other along the FOV, so giving the possibility of increasing the throughput of the system, it is important to establish how close the cells can be to avoid mutual disturbing effects on their rotation due to hydrodynamic interactions. Here, we investigate by means of direct numerical simulations the effects of the hydrodynamic interactions among several cells on their rotational behavior and mechanical deformation during the flow along a microfluidic channel, which are two essential aspects connected to the possibility of recovering the tomograms.
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