title: A mechanical biomarker of cell state in medicine.
abstract: The mechanical properties of cells have been shown to be useful markers of cell state by the biophysics community. Here, I highlight clinical and research problems that this label-free, potentially inexpensive cellular biomarker can address and discuss technical challenges to realize automated instruments to achieve robust and high-throughput mechanical measurements. Important features found in traditional fluorescence-based flow cytometry that can enable cytometry based on mechanical properties (i.e., deformability cytometry) are emphasized, especially the need for throughput, simple operation, multidimensional data visualization, and internal controls. Next-generation approaches to automate deformability measurements of cells are surveyed, and future directions are outlined that promise to bring low-cost mechanical measurements to medicine and biological research.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. dicarlo@seas.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Carlo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057205:Automation, Laboratory; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D002477:Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D044085:Microfluidics; D012212:Rheology