Physic professor Qi Wen (CoPI) together with (PI) prof. Yuxiang Liu, from mechanical engineering, were recently awarded nearly $450,000 by the National Science Foundation over a period of 3 years.
Tissue cells live in a nonlinear and heterogeneous three-dimensional (3D) environment. However, existing techniques for cell mechanics studies only work in uniform media and mostly on 2D surfaces. The proposed research will develop a compact, dexterous, and robust fiber optical trapping system, namely optical chopsticks, and apply it for cellular mechanics study in 3D matrices. The optical chopsticks are capable of simultaneously applying forces and measuring cell responses in a non-contact fashion. This research will transform the study of cellular mechanics in the native 3D environments.
