Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Magnetically Actuated Cell Stretching Platform To Induce Phenotypic Changes In Metastatic Cells, Yong Gyun Cho, Hyunsu Park, Hyowon Lee, Sarah Libring

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Although metastasis is responsible for about 90% of cancer deaths, only few in vitro models can be used to evaluate dynamic behaviors of metastatic cancer cells. Many studies have shown that mechanical stimuli can trigger various cellular responses such as gene and protein expression, which could lead to changes in cellular phenotype. Similarly, metastasized breast cancer cells in the lung tissue are constantly stretched by cyclic mechanical stress due to breathing, which alters cellular morphology and proliferation state. Such transitions can make the secondary tumors resistant to the chemotherapy used to effectively treat the primary tumors. In this work, we …