The Contribution of Biomechanics of Cells and Extracellular Matrix to Cancer Invasion

The aim of the project is to develop a microfluidic system to study the correlation between cell mechanical properties and migration. At the initial stage of the project, mechanical properties of single cells (malignant and not of the same phenotype) will be evaluated using atomic force microscopy. This will provide a basic data set about different populations at the single-cell level. Furthermore, there are many examples in the literature showing that cancer cells at advanced stages produce substantially higher amounts of extracellular matrix proteins that contribute to the overall rigidity of a tumor. Therefore, mechanical properties of cell aggregates with dimensions resembling those of an early stage tumor will be evaluated. To do this, 3D culture of cells will be conducted to form tissue-like colonies.

With the knowledge of the mechanical behavior of single cells and of tumor-like cell aggregates in static conditions, microfluidic devices will be developed to evaluate the relation between cell mechanical properties and cell migration. The device will be designed to create biomimetic physical barriers and physiological fluidic conditions such as chemotactic gradients. Computational software, for example Comsol will be used to identify desirable geometries to achieve this. The effect of cell mechanical properties and chosen drug candidates on cell migration will then be evaluated on chip.