# Stimulated Brillouin Flow Cytometry for biomechanical assessment of metastatic potential

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2022 · $284,383

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
While our ability to detect and treat primary tumors has significantly increased in the past decade, it remains
difficult to diagnose the origination of metastasis which remains responsible for nearly 90% of cancer-related
deaths. In this respect, recently, the critical role of the mechanical state of tumors and tumor cells has been
recognized for tumor progression, malignancy transformation and metastasis but it remains poorly exploited
due to the lack of suitable measurement tools. Many microfluidic deformability approaches have recently
emerged, but they only give an average value of the overall cell mechanical properties, while it would be
important to separate nucleus vs cytoskeleton contributions, and they need mechanical stimulation to probe
properties, which is deleterious since cells strongly react to mechanical stimuli. In the past few years, we have
been developing an all-optical approach to this challenge, named Brillouin microscopy, and strongly
established it in tumor biology to characterize cell mechanics during metastatic cascade. However, current
technology is inherently limited in speed (~50ms/point), as it relies on spontaneous Brillouin interaction, and
thus is not suitable for rapid screening/sorting of tumor cells. Here, we will develop stimulated Brillouin
cytometry which 1) increases speed by ~100-fold and 2) provides additional contrast mechanisms such as
viscosity and mass density with micron-scale resolution. Based on this breakthrough, we will develop and
validate a flow cytometry/cell sorting platform using elastic modulus, viscosity, and density as label-free
contrast mechanisms (Aim 1). We will then validate our mechanical assessment of metastatic cells against
microfluidic assays to assess migration and proliferation and in mice models to assess cell’s metastatic ability
in vivo (Aim 2). The rigorous process of technology development, validation, benchmarking and field-testing
will yield a platform with unprecedented capabilities to characterize and sort cells based on their mechanical
properties within an instrument compatible with traditional flow cytometry, thus ready to be widely adopted by
the cancer biology community. The proposal features the collaboration between optical technology experts
(UMD) and cancer metastasis pioneers in both in vitro (JHU) and in vivo (UMB) settings with an established
track record of fruitful collaboration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10358051
- **Project number:** 1R21CA258008-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Konstantinos Konstantopoulos
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $284,383
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-02-14 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10358051

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10358051, Stimulated Brillouin Flow Cytometry for biomechanical assessment of metastatic potential (1R21CA258008-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10358051. Licensed CC0.

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