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The spread of metastases is a crucial process in which some questions remain unanswered. In this work, we focus on tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream, the so-called Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs). Our aim is to characterize their…
Vascular adhesion of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a key step in cancer spreading. If inflammation is recognized to favor the formation of vascular metastatic niches, little is known about the contribution of blood rheology to CTC…
Distant spreading of primary lesions is modulated by the vascular dynamics of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and their ability to establish metastatic niches. While the mechanisms regulating CTC homing in specific tissues are yet to be…
Microtubules (MTs) are cytoplasmic protein polymers that are essential for fundamental cellular processes including the maintenance of cell shape, organelle transport and formation of the mitotic spindle. Microtubule dynamic instability is…
This paper describes an investigation into part of the mechanical mechanisms underlying the formation of mitotic spindle, the cellular machinery responsible for chromosomal separation during cell division. In normal eukaryotic cells,…
We propose to use a compound of magnetic nanoparticles (20-100 nm) embedded in a flexible polymer (Polydimethylsiloxane PDMS) to filter circulating tumor cells (CTCs). The analysis of CTCs is an emerging tool for cancer biology research and…
Circulating tumor cell clusters play an important role in the metastatic cascade. These clusters can acquire a migratory and more invasive phenotype, and coordinate their motion to migrate as a collective. Before such clusters can form by…
Metastases are the primary cause of death in cancer patients. Small animal models are helping in dissecting some of key features in the metastatic cascade. Yet, tools for systematically analyze the contribution of blood flow, vascular…
Purpose of review: The epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and the generation of Cancer Stem Cells (CSC) are two fundamental aspects contributing to tumor growth, acquisition of resistance to therapy, formation of metastases, and tumor…
The extra-cellular microenvironment has a fundamental role in tumor growth and progression, strongly affecting the migration strategies adopted by single cancer cells during metastatic invasion. In this study, we use a novel microfluidic…
A common type of cytoskeletal morphology involves multiple converging microbutubules with their minus ends collected and stabilized by a microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in the interior of the cell. This arrangement enables the…
The detection and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may enable a broad range of cancer-related applications, including the identification of acquired drug resistance during treatments. However, the non-scalable fabrication,…
Microtubules (MTs) are important cytoskeletal structures, engaged in a number of specific cellular activities, including vesicular traffic, cell cyto-architecture and motility, cell division, and information processing within neuronal…
Two models of circulating tumor cell (CTC) dynamics have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of tumor 'self-seeding', whereby CTCs repopulate the primary tumor and accelerate growth: Primary Seeding, where cells from a primary tumor…
Cancer is a disease of cellular regulation, often initiated by genetic mutation within cells, and leading to a heterogeneous cell population within tissues. In the competition for nutrients and growth space within the tumors the phenotype…
We present a systematic study of the influence of cell geometry on the orientational distribution of microtubules (MTs) nucleated from a single microtubule organizing center (MTOC). For simplicity we consider an elliptical cell geometry, a…
Deformation based circulating tumor cell (CTC) microchips are a representative diagnostic device for early cancer detection. This type of device usually involves a process of CTC trapping in a confined microgeometry. Further understanding…
Thrombosis is a common complication following the surgical implantation of blood contacting devices, and is strongly influenced by the phenomenon of near-wall enrichment of platelets. This paper describes a multi-constituent continuum…
A microtubule (MT) is a hollow tube of approximately 25 nm diameter. The two ends of the tube are dissimilar and are designated as `plus' and `minus' ends. Motivated by the collective push and pull exerted by a bundle of MTs during…
In the field of biomedicine magnetic beads are used for drug delivery and to treat hyperthermia. Here we propose to use self-organized bead structures to isolate circulating tumor cells using lab-on-chip technologies. Typically blood flows…