Biological measurement and data interpretation has historically been dominated by inference techniques based on the average responses of large populations of cells. However, we believe that diseases like cancer are not driven by the average but by the outliers among a cell population. Thus, identification and exploration of particular outliers in cell populations may provide vital clues in understanding the mechanisms of the disease. Recent breakthroughs in microfabrication and high-resolution optical computed tomography (CT) imaging technologies for single-cell analysis enable physiological measurements and isotropic 3D images to be obtained from single cells. Our aim is to apply single-cell physiological and transcriptomic measurements and 3D tomography (cell CT) to quantify the physiological and structural properties of cancer cells and to employ this data to investigate hypotheses regarding cancer cells, their heterogeneity and disease progression and arrest. Our robust technologies enable these measurements to be seamlessly extended to a group of few cells in order to analyze the effect of inter-cellular interactions.
Each month, innovative research from the Biodesign Institute appears in the world’s premier scientific journals. Many such studies have graced the covers of these journals, showcasing Biodesign research ranging from water remediation to nanometer-scale structures built from DNA.
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