Real-time viscoelastic deformability cytometry: High-throughput mechanical phenotyping of liquid and solid biopsies

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Cell Biology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Mechanical properties of cells are crucial for disease detection and classification.
• Current methods for single-cell deformability analysis lack high-throughput capabilities for clinical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an ultrahigh-throughput viscoelastic microfluidic platform for single-cell mechanical property measurement.
• To demonstrate the platform's utility in clinical scenarios, including biopsy analysis and disease identification.

Main Methods:

• Development of a viscoelastic microfluidic device for measuring single-cell mechanical properties.
• High-throughput analysis of cells at rates up to 100,000 cells/second.
• Application to liquid and solid tumor biopsies, cytoskeletal drug analysis, and lymphocyte identification.

Main Results:

• The platform achieves ultrahigh-throughput single-cell mechanical property measurements.
• Demonstrated successful phenotyping of liquid and solid tumor biopsies.
• Enabled label-free identification of malignant lymphocytes and cytoskeletal drug effects.

Conclusions:

• The viscoelastic microfluidic platform offers a novel approach for high-throughput, label-free single-cell analysis.
• This technology has significant potential for clinical diagnostics and personalized medicine.
• Facilitates rapid assessment of cellular mechanical properties for various medical applications.