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Biomedical engineers at Duke University have discovered a way to detect signs of cancer on a cell-by-cell basis using two lasers and a camera. Several medical devices currently in use and in clinical trials around the world look for increases in cellular stiffness as an indicator of cancerous tissue.
These devices, however, rely on readings from many cells clustered together within the body and cannot operate on a cellular level. In the study, researchers describe a technique for assessing an individual cell’s stiffness using patterns that appear within its internal structure. The results show that the more organized its innards, the stiffer the cell.Image credit: Image courtesy of Duke University
