Spongy Cells: Microfluidic Observations of Mammalian Cell Osmotic Behaviour

Overview

Many clinical diagnostics rely on detecting disease based on the chemical properties of cells. However, a vastly unexplored area of clinical diagnostics is disease detection based on the physical properties of cells, including viscosity, elasticity, porousness, and stiffness. While research has shown disease detection based on the mechanical properties of cells shows promise, the parameters for these properties are still ambiguous. However, through using microfluidic techniques to observe the osmotic behaviour of cells, these mechanical properties can be better defined and understood. The first purpose of this project is observe the cell behavior of A20, an immortal cell line, in different osmolarity solutions, and more specifically, its change in size and the rate in which it size changes. The second purpose of this project is to observe how changing the cells’ stiffness through drug treatment affects its behaviour in different osmolarity solutions. To observe cell-size changes, A20 will be flown through microfluidic channels and caught within traps for observation. They will then be treated with 100 mOsm, 200 mOsm and 300 mOsm solutions, and recorded using Micro-Manager. This photo data will then be analyzed using MATLAB to create graphs mapping the change in A20’s cell size over a certain period of time. Furthermore, in two separate tests A20 will be treated with Paclitaxel, which stiffens the cell, and Cytochalasin D, which softens the cell. Then, data will be collected from these treated cells similarly to the untreated cells, and the respective data sets will be compared using statistical analysis.

Competition history

• AJAS 2020 Category not listed

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