Vijayendra Umesh Shastri has been awarded an NWO-XS grant
Vijayendra Umesh Shastri from the Precions and Microsystems Engineering Department has been awarded an NWO-XS grant for his quantitative de-cellurarization with single-cell resolution project.
A tumor is a lump of cells held together by cell-to-cell and cell-to-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion. Measuring how cells adhere in a tumor is essential in cancer research to understand metastasis. Existing adhesion measurement methods are suitable only for cells on a flat 2-dimensional surface. In this project,Shastri proposes to measure cells’ adhesion in 3-dimensional spheroids (tumor models) at single-cell resolution. During his research Shastri will develop novel 3D-printed force-sensitive microfluidic cantilevers and aim to detach individual cells from spheroids while measuring their adhesion strength. The project's outcome leads to the development of a methodology that will enable a fundamental understanding of cell adhesion in a tumor and metastasis.
“Using high-resolution 3D printing two-photon polymerization technique to fabricate microfluidic devices for precise biophysical characterisation is a new area of research and has tremendous technological prospects. Dr. Murali Ghatkesar’s group is pioneering this field, opening new opportunities. The NWO-XS grant will help to develop 3D-printed microfluidic cantilevers for tumor decellularization using fluid-force microscopy (FluidFM). We also aim to answer fundamental questions on cell adhesion in tumors that will help us better understand cancer's mechanobiology”.
About Vijayendra Shastri
Dr. Vijayendra Shastri is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Murali Ghatkesar’s Precision Microfluidics lab at the department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME), working on single-cell biopsy using atomic force-sensitive microfluidic cantilevers.
