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显示，个人一生中罹患癌症的可能性超过40%。大多数形式的癌症的特点是实体肿瘤中的细胞过度增殖，这往往会将癌细胞倾泻到患者的血液中，转移到其他继发性位置(转移级联)。这些细胞被称为循环肿瘤细胞(CTCs)，很少(109个细胞中只有一个细胞)，很难分离。同时，CTC可以作为诊断信息的极好来源，因为它们包含关于疾病类型的信息，这有助于决定有针对性的药物治疗和治疗监测。此外，它们的存在和数量是患者预后的指标。开发无化学物质、快速、高效的方法来分离活性CTCs，同时又不损失它们的生物学特性，对于下一代癌症的护理点分析至关重要。在基于物理的隔振装置中，除了气室的几何特性(即气泡的大小)和流体装置的尺寸(即狭窄的大小)外，气泡的力学特性，如刚度、可压缩程度、粘弹性和粘性，也会影响分离效率。在知识差距和对患者护理的影响的推动下，本博士研究项目的主要目的是调查细胞生物力学特性在与流体流动和复杂几何形状的细胞相互作用中的作用。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中的流动来实现。拟议的科学分析将通过优化设计和操作条件来提高当前的医疗技术。总而言之，这项属于医疗技术领域的博士研究项目的核心重点是为捕获四氯化碳的医疗器械的设计开发改进的实验和计算方法。