A continuum hard-sphere model of protein adsorption

Current design tools cannot accurately predict the adsorption of proteins in microfluidic devices that handle biological liquids. A continuum model was developed to predict the transport of hard-sphere particles in a liquid and the adsorption of the particles on a solid surface. Particle configurations obtained from Brownian dynamics simulations were used to calculate the activity coefficient for the continuum model. The continuum model was implemented as a boundary condition for a CFD simulation. The adsorption kinetics predicted by the continuum model matched the kinetics from the Brownian dynamics simulations, but required much less time to run. The continuum model can be extended to model the electrostatic and van der Waals interactions that drive protein adsorption.