Characterizing cellular mechanical phenotypes with mechano-node-pore sensing

A simple and innovative technique for measuring the mechanical properties of cells could lead to a versatile clinical diagnostic tool. The ability to measure differences in the mechanical properties of cells can be used to detect changes in cells that are caused by disease, aging, or environmental interactions. Present technologies for performing such measurements, however, can analyse only a few cells each hour. This led Lydia Sohn at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States, and colleagues to use a microfluidic platform that integrates node-pore sensors with a contraction channel to measure mechanical differences in populations of cells efficiently. The team's device, which measures the current across the microfluidic channel and quantifies four biophysical properties of a single cell simultaneously, has broad applications for understanding biomechanical properties of cells, clinical diagnostics, and therapeutics.