2025 Hyper Recent •CC0 1.0 Universal

This work is dedicated to the public domain. No rights reserved.

Access Preprint From Server
July 1st, 2025
Version: 1
Indian Institute of Technology, Goa
bioengineering
biorxiv

Estimating anisotropy of single cells using a compliant biaxial stretcher

Marwah, H.Open in Google Scholar•Bhatt, H.Open in Google Scholar•Fartyal, N. S.Open in Google Scholar•Nautiyal, R.Open in Google Scholar•Veer, S.Open in Google Scholar•Pullarkat, P. A.Open in Google Scholar•Balakrishnan, S.Open in Google Scholar

Understanding the mechanical properties of single cells is essential for elucidating their responses to mechanical cues and plays a critical role in development, disease progression, and mechanotransduction. However, probing these properties at the single-cell level remains technically challenging. Traditional methods for probing cellular mechanics are often restricted to a single deformation mode and rely on complex instrumentation, limiting their adaptability. Hence, no single platform currently offers multi-modal cell manipulation, which motivates the development of more versatile tools. Towards this, we are developing an ensemble of compliant micromechanisms that enables diverse modes of cell manipulation on a single chip. Building on our earlier work with a uniaxial stretcher, here we demonstrate estimation of cellular anisotropy using a biaxial stretcher. Since the mechanism transforms motion using deformation, cell stretching forces can be estimated through image-based displacement measurements, without additional sensing modalities, considerably simplifying the device fabrication and operation. By assembling these uniaxial and biaxial stretching micromechanisms on a single chip, we can establish a multi-modal manipulation platform for single cells, which can be augmented with shearing and twisting modes in the future. Such a simple and versatile platform presents a paradigm shift in mechanical testing of single cells.

Similar Papers

biorxiv
Wed Jul 02 2025
Development of a Clinically Relevant Rabbit Model of Acute Laryngeal Injury
bstract Objectives: Acute Laryngeal Injury (ALgI) is created as a result of endotracheal tube pressure ulcer formation leading to fibrosis and inflammation. This condition often leads to airway obstruction and voice and swallowing dysfunction. This study demonstrates a reliable animal model of ALgI to reproduce the acute wound process seen clinically, to explore the pathophysiology of this disease...
Stepp, R.
•
Ali, N.
•
Rodriguez, A. A.
•
Nicklow, E.
...•
Daniero, J. J.
biorxiv
Wed Jul 02 2025
Label-Free Mapping of Subcellular Dynamics using Wide-field Interferometric Scattering Microscopy and Spectral Exponent Analysis
Interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy combines label-free detection with nanometer-scale motion sensitivity. It captures temporal signal fluctuations from sub-diffraction movements of scatterers in live cells, including macromolecules and cell membranes. Here, we investigate label-free mapping of subcellular dynamics by calculating the power spectral density (PSD) of the iSCAT time series....
Anyi, C. L.
•
You, H.
•
Li, H.
•
Goh, K. L.
•
Ling, T.
biorxiv
Wed Jul 02 2025
Aqueous two-phase bioinks for discrete packing and compartmentalisation of 3D bioprinted cells
The unparalleled ability of aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) to reproduce microscale cellular and biomaterial compartmentalisation to selectively modulate cell behaviour and functionality is ideal for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) purposes. Herein, we introduce new ATPS biomaterial inks for 3D bioprinting of water-in-water (W/W) emulsions, enabling precise cellular crowding f...
Marcotulli, M.
•
Iacomino, A.
•
Serpe, F.
•
Iafrate, L.
...•
Cidonio, G.
biorxiv
Wed Jul 02 2025
Multimodal profiling of proinflammatory protease activity identifies caspase-1 as a target for lung cancer interception
The systemic inhibition of IL-1b, a key mediator of pulmonary inflammation, has been shown to reduce the incidence of lung cancer in patients in years following treatment, but knowledge gaps surrounding its activation and role in the tumor microenvironment are hindering approaches for cancer interception. We developed a suite of activity-based technologies to probe inflammation in early lung cance...
Wang, C. S.
•
Zhong, Q.
•
Wang, S.-T.
•
Alonso, M. C. M.
...•
Bhatia, S.
biorxiv
Tue Jul 01 2025
Classifier-guided Deep Oscillatory Neural Networks (cDONN) for capturing both Neural Dynamics and Behavior simultaneously
Generating EEG signals alongside behavioural actions introduces substantial biological complexity, akin to an abstract model that mimics rich oscillatory brain dynamics by simultaneously producing dynamic neural activity and corresponding behavioural responses. In this work, we propose a novel class of bio-inspired classifier guided Deep Oscillatory Neural Network (cDONN), designed to simultaneous...
Ghosh, S.
•
Chakravarthy, S.
•
Raja, S.
biorxiv
Tue Jul 01 2025
Perturbation Recovery Time Identifies Subtle Human Balance Impairments and Features
Falls are a leading cause of injury and growing healthcare care costs, particularly in aging populations, yet subtle balance impairments often go undetected until severe problems arise. Accurately quantifying human balance has remained a critical challenge. Here, we introduce perturbation recovery time, a novel balance metric inspired by nonlinear dynamic system theory that quantifies the duration...
Wu, J.
•
Raitor, M.
•
Truong, T.
•
Liu, C. K.
•
Collins, S. H.
biorxiv
Tue Jul 01 2025
Synchrotron Tomography-Based Inversion Pipeline for Estimating Elastic Properties of Rat Vertebral Endplate Finite Element Models
Lower back pain is linked to vertebral biomechanics, with vertebral endplates (VEPs) playing a key role. Finite element modelling (FEM) is a powerful tool for studying VEP biomechanics but relies on accurate material property inputs, which remain difficult to obtain. Synchrotron computed tomography (sCT) allows for detailed visualisation of the microstructure of intact VEPs under near-physiologica...
Chen, J.
•
Parmenter, A. L.
•
Sharma, A.
•
Newham, E.
...•
Lee, P. D.
biorxiv
Tue Jul 01 2025
Single-Cell Protein Interactomes by the Proximity Network Assay
Cellular function depends on dynamic interactions and nanoscale spatial organisation of proteins. While transcriptomic and proteomic methods have enabled single-cell profiling, scalable technologies allowing high-resolution analysis of protein interactions at omics-scale are lacking. Here we present the Proximity Network Assay (PNA), a DNA-based method for constructing three-dimensional nanoscale ...
Karlsson, F.
•
Simonetti, M.
•
Galonska, C.
•
Karlsson, M. J.
...•
Fredriksson, S.
biorxiv
Mon Jun 30 2025
Automated muscle path calibration with gradient-specified optimization based on moment arm
Objective: Muscle path modeling is more than just routing a cable that visually represents the muscle, but rather it defines how moment arms vary with different joint configurations. The muscle moment arm is the factor that translates muscle force into joint moment, and this property has an impact on the accuracy of musculoskeletal simulations. However, it is not easy to calibrate muscle paths bas...
Chen, Z.
•
Hu, T.
•
Haddadin, S.
•
Franklin, D.