ArticleScience robotics2023
Quantifying stiffness and forces of tumor colonies and embryos using a magnetic microrobot.
Article in Science robotics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Microfluidic chips in female reproduction: a systematic review of status, advances, and challenges.Theranostics · 2024Pooled it
- Decoding mechanoregulation in immunological synapses using biomimetic artificial cells.Nature methods · 2026Article
- Ferrofluid microrobot driven by an adjustable magnetic tweezer for soft tissue mechanical measurement.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2026Article
- Mechano-regulation of cancer cell memory in tumor progression and therapy.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2026Review
- Cytoskeletal prestress homeostasis is a biological principle that governs living cell structure and function.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2026Review
- Acoustic shape-morphing micromachines.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Mapping Collective Forces of Lung Cancer Spheroids Using Traction Force Microscopy.Biotechnology and bioengineering · 2026Article
- A Microfluidic Digital Shutter of Liquid-Liquid Interface for Fabrication of Multifaceted Hydrogel Microfiber Structure.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Photothermally Powered 3D Microgels Mechanically Regulate Mesenchymal Stem Cells Under Anisotropic Force.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Review
- Three-dimensional traction technology and its application in mechanomedicine.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2025Review
- Technology Roadmap of Micro/Nanorobots.ACS nano · 2025Review
- Mechanomemory after short episodes of intermittent stresses induces YAP translocation via increasing F-actin.APL bioengineering · 2025Article
- The first embryo, the origin of cancer and animal phylogeny. V. Cancer stem cells as the unifying biomechanical principle between embryology and oncology.Mechanobiology in medicine · 2025Review
- Analytical methods in studying cell force sensing: principles, current technologies and perspectives.Regenerative biomaterials · 2025Review
- Optomagnetic Micromirror Arrays for Mapping Large Area Stiffness Distributions of Biomimetic Materials.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Compressive stresses in cancer: characterization and implications for tumour progression and treatment.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2024Review
- 3D Traction Force Microscopy in Biological Gels: From Single Cells to Multicellular Spheroids.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2024Review
- Study on Structural Design and Motion Characteristics of Magnetic Helical Soft Microrobots with Drug-Carrying Function.Micromachines · 2024Article
- Analytical method for reconstructing the stress on a spherical particle from its surface deformation.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
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15 authors.
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Abstract
Stiffness and forces are two fundamental quantities essential to living cells and tissues. However, it has been a challenge to quantify both 3D traction forces and stiffness (or modulus) using the same probe in vivo. Here, we describe an approach that overcomes this challenge by creating a magnetic microrobot probe with controllable functionality. Biocompatible ferromagnetic cobalt-platinum microcrosses were fabricated, and each microcross (about 30 micrometers) was trapped inside an arginine-glycine-apartic acid-conjugated stiff poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) round microgel (about 50 micrometers) using a microfluidic device. The stiff magnetic microrobot was seeded inside a cell colony and acted as a stiffness probe by rigidly rotating in response to an oscillatory magnetic field. Then, brief episodes of ultraviolet light exposure were applied to dynamically photodegrade and soften the fluorescent nanoparticle-embedded PEG microgel, whose deformation and 3D traction forces were quantified. Using the microrobot probe, we show that malignant tumor-repopulating cell colonies altered their modulus but not traction forces in response to different 3D substrate elasticities. Stiffness and 3D traction forces were measured, and both normal and shear traction force oscillations were observed in zebrafish embryos from blastula to gastrula. Mouse embryos generated larger tensile and compressive traction force oscillations than shear traction force oscillations during blastocyst. The microrobot probe with controllable functionality via magnetic fields could potentially be useful for studying the mechanoregulation of cells, tissues, and embryos.
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