Type of Proposal
Oral presentation
Faculty
Faculty of Science
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Jalal Ahamed
Proposal
Mechanical signalling plays an important role in cell morphology, communication, migration, adhesion and differentiation. It is essential for the cell to translate mechanical forces into biochemical signals; known as mechanical transduction. This research offers a platform called 3D ‘lab-on-a-chip’ for investigating the effects of mechanical confinement in cells growth, gene expressions, motility, stress and diffusion. Lab-on-a-chip devices are miniature device that can shrink a conventional bench-top laboratory into a small chip. Compared to existing glass/semiconductor based platforms for cell mechanical transduction, our aim is to develop an alternate cost-effective platform using 3D printed lab-on-a-chip. Such a platform is reconfigurable, adaptable with rapid manufacturing and cost effective. The 3D microfluidic devices allow for mechanical transduction of a single cell within three dimensional micro channels designed specifically to the researchers needs. It is crucial to understand the mechanical transduction of the cell to be analyzed as the amount of stress exerted should be moderated to avoid destroying valuable cellular components. An application of this research is isolation of cancer cells. As cancer cells progress, cytoskeletal proteins transform leading to a change in deformability, contraction and elasticity as compared to a regular cell. By understanding the differences between different types of cell morphology and deformability, a 3D printable lab on a chip device can be designed to isolate the cell and mechanically transduce it to release its components for analysis. Our research utilizes finite element based analysis to design such a 3D lab-on-chip. Based on the amount of stress required to break the cell into components, the state of the cell can be determined. Understanding the kinetics and components of the cell cytoskeleton is important in the use of lab-on-a-chip devices which can also allow for a wide variety of other applications such as cell isolation, cell lysis, genomics, and cell state detection.
Start Date
31-3-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
31-3-2017 10:20 AM
Mechanical Transduction of a Single Cell: Possible Applications for 3D Printed Lab-on-a-Chip
Mechanical signalling plays an important role in cell morphology, communication, migration, adhesion and differentiation. It is essential for the cell to translate mechanical forces into biochemical signals; known as mechanical transduction. This research offers a platform called 3D ‘lab-on-a-chip’ for investigating the effects of mechanical confinement in cells growth, gene expressions, motility, stress and diffusion. Lab-on-a-chip devices are miniature device that can shrink a conventional bench-top laboratory into a small chip. Compared to existing glass/semiconductor based platforms for cell mechanical transduction, our aim is to develop an alternate cost-effective platform using 3D printed lab-on-a-chip. Such a platform is reconfigurable, adaptable with rapid manufacturing and cost effective. The 3D microfluidic devices allow for mechanical transduction of a single cell within three dimensional micro channels designed specifically to the researchers needs. It is crucial to understand the mechanical transduction of the cell to be analyzed as the amount of stress exerted should be moderated to avoid destroying valuable cellular components. An application of this research is isolation of cancer cells. As cancer cells progress, cytoskeletal proteins transform leading to a change in deformability, contraction and elasticity as compared to a regular cell. By understanding the differences between different types of cell morphology and deformability, a 3D printable lab on a chip device can be designed to isolate the cell and mechanically transduce it to release its components for analysis. Our research utilizes finite element based analysis to design such a 3D lab-on-chip. Based on the amount of stress required to break the cell into components, the state of the cell can be determined. Understanding the kinetics and components of the cell cytoskeleton is important in the use of lab-on-a-chip devices which can also allow for a wide variety of other applications such as cell isolation, cell lysis, genomics, and cell state detection.