Key Takeaways
- Researchers at Brown University and NIST have developed a mechanophenotyping cytometer to measure cell elasticity efficiently.
- This new method can analyze 60 to 100 cells per second, a significant improvement over traditional techniques.
- Findings may enhance disease understanding and improve diagnosis and prognosis for conditions like cancer and blood disorders.
New Technique for Measuring Cell Elasticity
Researchers from Brown University, in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), have created an innovative method to measure cell elasticity, highlighting its importance in medical diagnostics. Accurate assessments of cell stiffness can lead to improved disease understanding and better patient prognoses, particularly for cancers, blood disorders, and various chronic illnesses.
The new device, called a “mechanophenotyping cytometer,” can analyze between 60 to 100 cells each second, with future capabilities potentially allowing for thousands of cells per second. This advancement is crucial, as the physical properties of cells, including their elasticity, can indicate disease severity. For instance, cancer cells often become softer and more prone to spread as they progress, while conditions like malaria and sickle cell anemia can cause red blood cells to harden.
As discussed in the journal Lab on a Chip, this study underscores the potential of mechanophenotyping, which has remained underutilized primarily due to outdated measurement technologies. Lead author Graylen Chickering, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering, pointed out that existing methods, specifically atomic force microscopy, are limited. This conventional technique involves adhering cells to a surface and testing them one by one, resulting in lengthy analysis times.
Chickering explained the essence of their new approach, which focuses on measuring the “time-of-flight”—the duration it takes for a cell to travel through narrow fluid channels within the device. By leveraging fluorescent signals to assess cell size alongside time-of-flight metrics, researchers can determine cell stiffness. Softer cells are found nearer to the channel center, where the fluid flow is the fastest, while stiffer cells remain at the edges.
This innovative method allows scientists to analyze much larger cell populations quickly, significantly reducing the time required for each measurement. The approach’s reliability was evident in Chickering’s experiments, demonstrating that particles with varied sizes and stiffnesses produced consistent time-of-flight results, aligning with theoretical expectations.
The collaborative effort that led to this device was several years in the making, combining resources from Brown’s Institute for Biology, Engineering, and Medicine with NIST’s design capabilities. Brown’s contribution involved creating synthetic cell-like particles for calibration, while NIST developed the machine’s structure, incorporating multiple measurement regions to enhance accuracy.
Future work aims to apply the mechanophenotyping cytometer to analyze human blood and tissue samples to detect differences in cell mechanical properties between healthy individuals and those with diseases like cancer. Darling emphasized a hopeful outcome: “The ultimate hope is that a device of this sort could help with diagnosis or prognosis alongside existing methods.”
Funding for the research was supplied by the National Science Foundation and NIST, laying the groundwork for advancements in cellular analysis and healthcare diagnostics.
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