Improved experimental and computational approaches for the design of CTC-capturing medical devices

改进 CTC 捕获医疗设备设计的实验和计算方法

• 批准号: 2803958
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2803958
• 关键词: Improved; experimental; computational; approaches; design

Cancer Research UK's statistics suggest that individuals have over 40% likelihood of suffering from cancer during their life. Most forms of cancer are characterised by excessive proliferation of cells in solid tumours, which often shed cancer cells into the patient's bloodstream to other secondary locations (metastasis cascade). These cells, known as Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs), are scarce (a single cell in 109 cells) and difficult to isolate. Meanwhile, CTCs can be an excellent source of diagnostic information because they contain information on the type of disease, which helps decide on targeted drug therapies and treatment monitoring. Additionally, their presence and quantity are indicative of patient prognosis. The development of chemical-free, fast, and efficient methodologies for isolating viable CTCs, without losing their biological characteristics is critical for next-generation point-of-care analyses of cancer. In the physics-based isolation devices, in addition to the geometrical characteristics of the cells (i.e. cells size) and the fluidic devices (i.e. the size of constrictions), the cellular mechanical properties such as stiffness, degree of compressibility, viscoelasticity and adhesiveness may also influence the separation efficiency. Motivated by the gap in knowledge and the impact on patient care, the main aim of this PhD research project is to investigate the role of cell bio-mechanical properties in cellular interactions with fluid flow and complex geometries. This will be achieved by characterising the flow in isolating medical devices using computer simulations and validation by experimental techniques. The proposed scientific analysis will enhance the current medical technology through optimum design and operating conditions. In summary, the core focus of this PhD research project, which falls under the medical technology field, is to develop improved experimental and computational approaches for the design of CTC-capturing medical devices.

英国癌症研究中心的统计数据表明，人一生中患癌症的可能性超过 40%。大多数形式的癌症的特征是实体瘤中细胞过度增殖，这通常会使癌细胞进入患者的血流中并到达其他继发部位（级联转移）。这些细胞被称为循环肿瘤细胞 (CTC)，数量稀少（109 个细胞中只有一个细胞）且难以分离。同时，CTC 可以成为诊断信息的绝佳来源，因为它们包含有关疾病类型的信息，这有助于决定靶向药物治疗和治疗监测。此外，它们的存在和数量可以指示患者的预后。开发无化学物质、快速、高效的方法来分离可行的 CTC，同时不损失其生物学特性，对于下一代癌症即时护理分析至关重要。在基于物理的隔离装置中，除了细胞的几何特征（即细胞尺寸）和流体装置（即收缩的尺寸）之外，细胞的机械特性（例如刚度、压缩度、粘弹性和粘附性）也可能受到影响。也影响分离效率。由于知识差距和对患者护理的影响，该博士研究项目的主要目的是研究细胞生物力学特性在细胞与流体流动和复杂几何形状相互作用中的作用。这将通过使用计算机模拟和实验技术验证来表征隔离医疗设备的流程来实现。所提出的科学分析将通过优化设计和操作条件来增强当前的医疗技术。总之，这个属于医疗技术领域的博士研究项目的核心重点是开发改进的实验和计算方法来设计 CTC 捕获医疗设备。