{"248741":{"#nid":"248741","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Technology That Sorts Cells by Stiffness May Help Spot Disease","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe mechanical properties of cells are often an indicator of disease. Cancer cells are typically soft and squishy. When the malaria parasite is inside a red blood cell, for example, the cell is stiffer than normal. Sickle cells also vary in stiffness.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearch into the stiffness of diseased cells is lacking, in part due to limits in technology. Researchers have developed a new technology to sort human cells according to their stiffness, which might one day help doctors identify certain diseases in patients, according to a new study.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, hopes that their technology might one day aid doctors in the field to rapidly and more accurately diagnose disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new technology is being tested in a small device, about 1 inch wide by 1.5 inches long. Cells are injected into a microfluidic channel on one side of the device. As the cells move through the channel, they are forced to squeeze over a series of ridges that are fabricated at an angle to the channel. If the cells are very flexible, they will easily squeeze over the ridges and follow the fluid stream. But if the cells are stiffer, when they hit a ridge, they will slide along the angled ridge before squeezing over, causing the cells to move to one side, separating them from the softer cells. These ridges eventually separate a single stream of cells into two streams depending on the cells\u2019 stiffness, which in some cases can be an indicator of a disease.\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2013\/10\/17\/new-technology-sorts-cells-stiffness-may-help-spot-disease\u0022\u003E Read more abouth this research by following this link.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech team uses newly developed microfluidic device to distinguish cells."}],"field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2013-10-25 08:40:25","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:15:14","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-10-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-10-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"248731":{"id":"248731","type":"image","title":"Todd Sulchek_Cell Stiffness","body":null,"created":"1449243772","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:42:52","changed":"1475894926","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:46","alt":"Todd Sulchek_Cell Stiffness","file":{"fid":"198033","name":"device-closeup_ts.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/device-closeup_ts_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/device-closeup_ts_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":24626,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/device-closeup_ts_0.jpg?itok=pI0mUHLJ"}}},"media_ids":["248731"],"groups":[{"id":"197261","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"}],"categories":[{"id":"140","name":"Cancer Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12701","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"12216","name":"Microfluidic Device"},{"id":"10775","name":"nanobiology"},{"id":"13574","name":"Todd Sulchek"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["brett.israel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}