Cancer Cells

In a Nature Physics article titled Directing Cell Motions on Micropatterned Ratchets,” Northwestern University Professor Bartosz Grzybowski and colleagues describe a novel technique that can detect and separate cancerous and normal cells in a blood sample.  The trap they describe takes advantage of the different shapes between malignant and normal epithelial cells and channels them in opposite directions.  In the groups’ opinion this opens the possibility of an implantable device that can permanently sequester metastatic cells.      MORE

Image Credit:  Northwestern University