Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 3 No. 3 Fall 2018 | Page 22

Coupling STEP with a separate
patent by Nain and Bahareh Beh-
kam, associate professor of mechan-
ical engineering, called Nanonet
Force Microscopy (Figure 2), his
group can measure the forces exert-
ed by a single cell or a collection of
cells. Furthermore, they can stretch
cells to understand their mechanical
properties and to test efficacy of
drugs.
“Our interest lies in looking at
fundamental cell behavior and re-
lating it with the forces the cells are
exerting,” Nain said. “For instance,
we might look at the difference in
forces between a diseased cell and
a non-diseased cell, and how the
forces are altered in migration or
how they respond to the addition of
drugs. This is all part of what we’re
trying to understand.”
In two recent papers from 2017,
Nain used the fiber networks to
study the protrusions formed by
cancer cells, and engineer closing
and non-closing wound gaps.
“Because we have good control
of the fiber networks, we are able
to study multiple cell behaviors in
a repeatable and controlled fashion
that has not been easy to do before.
It’s a very elegant process,” Nain
said. “In December [2017], we had
a paper in ACS Nano, in which
we were studying how to isolate
protrusions – finger-like sensory
projections from cell bodies (Figure
3). Think of it like walking in a dark
hallway, and eventually you will
start sensing with your arms. These
sensory devices are protrusions and
Figure 3
Cellular protrusions shown by white arrows
MOMENTUM
FALL 2018
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