The phrase "are applied to differentiate" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts where you are discussing methods or techniques that are used to distinguish between different items, concepts, or groups.
Example: "Various statistical methods are applied to differentiate between the two populations in the study."
Alternatives: "are used to distinguish" or "are employed to differentiate".
Different combinations of stimuli clustering were applied to differentiate each stimulus identification process.
Enzyme- and immunohistochemical techniques were applied to differentiate muscle fiber types on serial cross-sections of the shoulder.
A specific multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to differentiate samples of razor clams Ensis arcuatus, Ensis siliqua, Ensis directus, and Ensis macha.
Afterwards, a Linear Mixture Self-organizing Maps (LMSOM) classifier is applied to differentiate abnormal types and a cumulative trend difference method is utilized to predict the faults in wind turbine.
Spectral mapping methods, including spectral angle mapper, linear spectral unmixing, matched filtering and mixture tuned matched filtering were applied to differentiate hydrothermal alteration zones associated with porphyry copper mineralization such as phyllic, argillic and propylitic mineral assemblages.
The compound NL1, a high fluorescent probe that selectively targeted the mitochondria and was sensitive to mitochondrial environment changes, could be applied to differentiate between nystatin treated and normal cell mitochondrial environment.
It is applied to differentiate between physical and chemical adsorption.
For example, Ziegler et al. (2007) detailed chemical criteria that can be applied to differentiate authigenic, terrigenous, and volcanogenic aluminosilicates from each other.
In this paper, the system had not yet been applied to differentiate them, and the species of cochineals used on those red thread samples was not determined.
This "one month rule" was applied to differentiate actively hallucinating participants from those who may have had hallucinations in the past, but who no longer experience them due to effective treatment of this symptom.
