For the first time, they can easily compare two different
The ultimate goal of the project—led by Euisik Yoon, professor of electrical engineering and computer science—is to find out what drives the "self-renewal" processes that enable these aggressive cancer cells to behave like stem cells.
These cells are known as cancer stem cells. They are capable of dividing and turning into different kinds of cancer cells, with different genes turned on or off. Cancer researchers believe that if the stem-like properties can be switched off, the cancer will not be able to grow and spread.
"When a tumor forms, some cancer stem cells maintain stemness, while others are differentiated. By understanding this, we will know more about tumor formation and discover ways to inhibit it," said Yu-Chih Chen, a research scientist in electrical engineering and computer science and co-first-author on a paper newly published in ACS Nano.
The base of the new chip is composed of carbon nanotubes covered in a plastic coating. When a cancer cell settles on the chip, it sticks itself to that coating. To release the cell, the researchers shone extremely short pulses of laser light near it. The light is readily absorbed by the carbon nanotubes, flash-heating them, while the plastic insulates the cell.
The heat causes trapped air between the nanotubes and plastic to expand, blowing a bubble under the cell. When the bubble bursts through the plastic, the cell detaches. Then, the cell can be flushed out of the chip and captured for genetic profiling.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-sister-cell-profiling-aims-cancer.html#jCp
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