{"id":235930,"date":"2026-04-25T22:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/microfluidic-device-tracks-cell-squishiness-faster-and-more-reliably-than-standard-methods"},"modified":"2026-04-25T22:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:12:11","slug":"microfluidic-device-tracks-cell-squishiness-faster-and-more-reliably-than-standard-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/microfluidic-device-tracks-cell-squishiness-faster-and-more-reliably-than-standard-methods","title":{"rendered":"Microfluidic device tracks cell \u2018squishiness\u2019 faster and more reliably than standard methods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/microfluidic-device-tracks-cell-squishiness-faster-and-more-reliably-than-standard-methods.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Researchers from Brown University and their collaborators have developed a new way to measure the properties of cells\u2014an important development, they say, because accurate measurements of changes in cell elasticity can be used to better understand diseases, diagnose patient symptoms and provide more accurate prognoses.<\/p>\n<p>For example, cancer cells from tumors typically soften as they become more dangerous and likely to spread, while blood diseases like malaria and sickle cell can cause red blood cells to stiffen. Mechanical changes on a cellular level are also seen in neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and chronic inflammatory illnesses.<\/p>\n<p>As detailed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2026\/lc\/d5lc00930h\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a> in the journal <i>Lab on a Chip<\/i>, the researchers developed what they call a \u201cmechanophenotyping cytometer\u201d\u2014a microfluidic device designed to measure a cell\u2019s physical size and squishiness, known as its mechanical phenotype.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers from Brown University and their collaborators have developed a new way to measure the properties of cells\u2014an important development, they say, because accurate measurements of changes in cell elasticity can be used to better understand diseases, diagnose patient symptoms and provide more accurate prognoses. For example, cancer cells from tumors typically soften as they [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}