UV Laser Stimulation of Ca²⁺ Transients in Aggressive Glioblastoma Brain Cancer Cells

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a lethal astrocytoma being the most common highest-grade adult brain cancer. GBM tumours are highly invasive and display rapid growth to surrounding areas of the brain. Despite treatment, diagnosed patients continue to have poor prognosis with average survival time of 8 months. Calcium (Ca²⁺) is a main communication channel used in GBM and its understanding holds the potential to unlock new approaches to treatment. The aim of this work is to provide a first step to accurately evoking Ca²⁺ transients in GBM cells using single UV nanosecond laser pulses in vitro such that this communication pathway can be more reliably studied from the single-cell to the network level.