A pioneering research project that used the world’s most powerful supercomputer — Fugaku — has revealed unprecedented patterns of cell sorting in microfluidic channels. To see how COVID was affecting transportation researchers from University of Osaka, Kansai University, and Okayama University conducted a really cool study. In addition, it reveals how soft particles, such as biological cells, exhibit distinct focusing behavior relative to rigid particles. The researchers shared their work in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics on September 22, 2025. Coupled with other advances, this breakthrough opens the door to unprecedented possibilities in biomedical applications.
To accelerate their research, the team fully leveraged Fugaku’s super-fast computing capabilities. On these setups, they performed simulations of how particles move in various flow regimes, characterized by the Reynolds number (measuring inertia) and Capillary number (measuring deformability). The simulations uncovered a key underlying “phase transition” in the focusing behavior of the more soft particles. This fascinating effect is governed by the ratio of those two quantities known as the Laplace number.
Insights from Simulations
The study’s simulations proved that soft particles respond very differently at different flow conditions than rigid particles do. By varying the Reynolds and Capillary Numbers, the researchers controlled how these variables affected the dynamics of particle focusing. Such an understanding is key towards predictably designing microfluidic devices that are increasingly more adept at rapidly sorting cells with unmatched precision.
Yuma Hirohata, the lead author of the study, stressed the importance of these findings.
“We are committed to further developing this technology to realize its full potential in health care and biotechnology,” – Yuma Hirohata.
The impact of this research reaches further than academic knowledge. These discoveries demonstrate that next-generation microfluidic devices are capable of taking advantage of the deformability with respect to both cells and particles. This development greatly increases their power in biomedical settings, like disease detection and liquid biopsies.
Applications in Biomedical Science
These new cell sorting improvements hold great potential for real-world early cancer detection and other diagnostics. Scientists take advantage of the unusual focusing patterns discovered by the survey. Their vision is to create microfluidic devices that can rapidly and cost-effectively separate and analyze cells all by their physical characteristics. This new capability has the potential to enable earlier detection of diseases and interventions that are more closely aligned with patient needs.
The research team’s use of Fugaku was instrumental in simulating complex particle behaviors that traditional methods could not easily replicate. The research team’s findings are an important advance towards optimizing microfluidic systems for biomedical applications.
Future Directions
The area of microfluidics is rapidly advancing. Learnings from this study could lead to a whole new healthcare technology paradigm. The prospect of rapid and highly efficient cell sorting offers tremendous opportunities to improve diagnostics. Researchers are looking to dive further into these opportunities. Their aim is to make devices that they can control in real time to dynamically control the flow of soft particles.
The publication of this research, which includes a graphical abstract for visual representation, can be accessed through its DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2025.10574. Together, these findings highlight Fugaku’s extraordinary capabilities supplementing computational research as a powerful tool. Moreover, they showcase how it is fundamentally important to the progress of scientific research that brings the technology that will be their future healthcare solutions.