Equipment
Our experimental platform is designed to study the deformation of circulating tumor cells as they pass through microvascular constrictions. Cancer cells are perfused through microfluidic channels using a precision syringe pump while their behavior is observed with a Nikon Ti Eclipse inverted microscope and recorded using a FASTCAM S1 high-speed camera at 5,000 frames per second. High-speed imaging enables quantitative measurements of cell size, entry time, and deformation (elongation index) as cells travel through constrictions of different diameters. These experimental measurements provide validation data for our computational models of cancer cell transport and deformation.
Experimental measurement and numerical modeling of deformation behavior of breast cancer cells passing through constricted microfluidic channels
The equipment has been used in one of our works, where we combined microfluidic experiments with physics-based simulations to study how circulating tumor cells deform while passing through narrow blood vessels. By validating our computational models against high-speed experimental measurements, we improved our understanding of the mechanical processes that drive metastatic progression and support the development of predictive tools for cancer research.
P. Keshavarz Motamed, H. Abouali, M. Poudineh, and N. Maftoon, “Experimental measurement and numerical modeling of deformation behavior of breast cancer cells passing through constricted microfluidic channels,” Microsyst Nanoeng, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 7, Jan. 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41378-023-00644-7.