Optimization of Micromagnetic Separation for Bacteremia Treatment

Bacteremia and related syndromes such as sepsis and septic shock are becoming an increasing health concern due in large part to the rise of antibiotic resistance and unmet challenges for rapid diagnosis. Extracorporeal bacterial separation methods are currently under development to identify pathogens and reduce bacterial load. Previous studies have generated models to understand the progression of bacteremia. Here, a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model was integrated with a physically-based magnetic separation model to inform the design of a micromagnetic separation device. This modeling demonstrates that smallfootprint microfluidic devices are not efficient enough for bacteremia treatment in large living systems and further research into high-throughput extracorporeal blood-cleansing devices is required.