More information
Description
The idea our project is to combine microfluidic approach with selective capturing of cells for enhanced identification of mechanically altered cells. Custom designed microfluidic devices will be used to sort cells floating through the channels, based on mechanical deformability generated during floating. Furthermore, cells will be captured on modified microarray surfaces prepared using lectins/antibodies against the most characteristics changes in surface antigen/glycans expression. Next, their mechanical and microrheological properties will be measured by AFM. In microfluidics, floating cells are round, therefore, it is essential to understand the relation between mechanical properties of adherent cells and cells in suspension. So far, there is no direct proof showing to what extent initially larger cellular deformability is preserved in floating cancer cells. Understanding this relation is essential for enhancing the identification of cells by microfluidic devices. To test the effectiveness of the developed microfluidic device, a few groups of cancer cell lines will be applied, namely human bladder cancer cells characterized by a large deformability, human melanoma cells with smaller deformability differences and pancreatic cancer cells of unknown mechanical relation. Based on the obtained results, we expect that already reported limitations in quantification of cellular deformability, helpful in the comparison of healthy and pathologically altered cells, will be overcome. Through this, a developed microfluidic device will be capable to differentiate/separate specific cancer cell populations in suspension composed of cells characterized by a small deformability difference, thus could be translated and applied in cancer diagnosis, delivering a tool for high throughput and quantitative identification of mechanically altered cells.