Scientists in the US have proposed a design for small channels that could sort cells according to their stiffness, with the potential to rapidly detect disease.Cell stiffness is emerging as an important property. In medicine, for example, researchers have shown that cancerous cells are less rigid than their healthy counterparts. Measuring a cell's mechanical properties, however, requires expensive, time-intensive techniques such as atomic force microscopy, which physically probe individual cells. A cheap and efficient means of evaluating stiffness could therefore be an invaluable diagnostic tool.
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