Lab-on-a-Chip Platforms for Biophysical Studies of Cancer with Single-Cell Resolution
Vasudha C Shukla1, Tai-Rong Kuang2, Abirami Senthilvelan3
1Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, College of Medicine and Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract:
Recent cancer research has more strongly emphasized the biophysical aspects of tumor development, progression, and microenvironment. In addition to genetic modifications and mutations in cancer cells, it is now well accepted that the physical properties of cancer cells such as stiffness, electrical impedance, and refractive index vary with tumor progression and can identify a malignant phenotype. Moreover, cancer heterogeneity renders population-based characterization techniques inadequate, as individual cellular features are lost in the average. Hence, platforms for fast and accurate characterization of biophysical properties of cancer cells at the single-cell level are required. Here, we highlight some of the recent advances in the field of cancer biophysics and the development of lab-on-a-chip platforms for single-cell biophysical analyses of cancer cells.
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