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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Shear Assay Protocol for the Determination of Single-Cell Material Properties
Published on: May 19, 2023
On the measurement of human osteosarcoma cell elastic modulus using shear assay experiments
Yifang Cao1, Randy Bly, Will Moore
1Princeton Institute for Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) and Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Abstract:
This paper presents a method for determining the elastic modulus of human osteosarcoma (HOS) cells. The method involves a combination of shear assay experiments and finite element analysis. Following in-situ observations of cell deformation during shear assay experiments, a digital image correlation (DIC) technique was used to determine the local displacement and strain fields. Finite element analysis was then used to determine the Young's moduli of HOS cells. This involved a match of the maximum shear stresses estimated from the experimental shear assay measurements and those calculated from finite element simulations.
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