Deleterious Mechanical Deformation Selects Mechanoresilient Cancer Cells with Enhanced Proliferation and Chemoresistance.

Cancer cells in secondary tumors are found to form metastases more efficiently as compared to their primary tumor counterparts. This is partially due to the unfavorable microenvironments encountered by metastasizing cancer cells that result in the survival of a more metastatic phenotype from the original population. However, the role of deleterious mechanical stresses in this change of metastatic potential is unclear.

Single cell imaging-based chromatin biomarkers for tumor progression.

Tumour progression within the tissue microenvironment is accompanied by complex biomechanical alterations of the extracellular environment. While histopathology images provide robust biochemical markers for tumor progression in clinical settings, a quantitative single cell score using nuclear morphology and chromatin organization integrated with the long range mechanical coupling within the tumor microenvironment is missing. We propose that the spatial chromatin organization in individual nuclei characterises the cell state and their alterations during tumor progression.

Machine learning based approach to pH imaging and classification of single cancer cells.

The ability to identify different cell populations in a noninvasive manner and without the use of fluorescence labeling remains an important goal in biomedical research. Various techniques have been developed over the last decade, which mainly rely on fluorescent probes or nanoparticles. On the other hand, their applications to single-cell studies have been limited by the lengthy preparation and labeling protocols, as well as issues relating to reproducibility and sensitivity.

Microfluidic detection of human diseases: From liquid biopsy to COVID-19 diagnosis.

Microfluidic devices can be thought of as comprising interconnected miniaturized compartments performing multiple experimental tasks individually or in parallel in an integrated fashion. Due to its small size, portability, and low cost, attempts have been made to incorporate detection assays into microfluidic platforms for diseases such as cancer and infection. Some of these technologies have served as point-of-care and sample-to-answer devices.

Multivariate analysis reveals activation-primed fibroblast geometric states in engineered 3D tumor microenvironments.

Fibroblasts are a heterogeneous group of cells comprising subpopulations that have been found to be activated in the stromal microenvironment that regulates tumor initiation and growth. The underlying mechanisms of such selective activation of fibroblasts are not understood. We propose that the intrinsic geometric heterogeneity of fibroblasts modulates the nuclear mechanotransduction of signals from the microenvironment, resulting in their selective activation.