Cancer Cell Biology Research | Applications

Decoding cancer at the cellular level

Cancer varies widely in its presentation, underlying causes, and avenues for treatment. Deciphering the diverse cellular machinery at play in different cancer types is critical to improving diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy. When explored with the right tools, in vitro assays offer a systematic, scalable avenue to uncover the intricacies of cancer cell biology.

Pixel technology powers scalable, longitudinal studies of cell proliferation and death, immunotherapy response, metastasis, and more – with no compromises in throughput, resolution, or sensitivity.

Oncology powered by microchips

Pixel’s semiconductor-to-live-cell interface, built on a standard microplate format, enables high-resolution, high-throughput studies of cancer cells and their interactions with healthy tissue, engineered immune cells, compounds, and more. Microchips at the base of each well in a Pixel plate provide hundreds of thousands of electrodes, and up to 8X 96-or 384-well Pixel plates can be measured at the same time — revealing an unprecedented depth of live cell insights.

“Finding a cure for a complex disease such as cancer necessitates understanding of the disease from every aspect, from complex genetics and biological signaling to physical interactions and mechanical properties of individual cells.”

Malandrino et al., ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (2017)

Rich insights to accelerate cancer therapeutics and diagnostics

Assess dose-dependent compound effects on cell growth and death over time

Cell proliferation and viability are key readouts for measuring cancer drug efficacy, but many assays rely on destructive end-point readouts, limiting their usefulness in studying response kinetics. Pixel monitors cell proliferation and death non-destructively in adherent and suspension cells, delivering in-depth kinetics of both growth and death phases in a single high-throughput assay. It also captures dose response over time, enabling more accurate IC₅₀ measurements. To learn more, read our application note.

Measuring chemotherapy response in human lung carcinoma cells.

Detect cell death with high sensitivity in immunotherapy assays

Electrical imaging at single-cell resolution allows you to closely monitor interactions between T and tumor cells in CAR-T cell killing assays with Pixel, including changes in cell morphology before death. Cell death is visible even at low effector:tumor cell ratios, enabling development of more physiologically-relevant models of immunotherapies. To learn more, read our application note.

HeLa-CD19 cells were incubated with CD19-targeting T cells from ProMab Biotechnologies for 72 hours, while middle and right panels are seeded with 1:6 and 1:10 CAR-T:tumor cells at 24 hours, respectively. Dying cells with altered morphologies are visible in green and blue.

Monitor real-time effects of CAR-T cell therapy in tumor spheroids

3D tumor spheroids can more accurately recreate the tumor microenvironment than monolayer cell cultures. Pixel captures the dynamic interactions between T cells and tumor spheroids, revealing both structural changes and immune cell activity. It also enables visualization of T cell movement and their impact on the tumor microenvironment.

HeLa-CD19 spheroids were incubated with CD19-targeting T cells from ProMab Biotechnologies for 72 hours. Left panel shows an untreated spheroid growing over time, right panel shows CAR-T cells reducing tumor mass within 24 hours after their addition.

Study the metastatic potential of cells and effects of anti-metastatic compounds

Metastatic cells undergo a variety of biological changes that make them more mobile, invasive, resistant to death, and able to evade immune responses. Pixel enables scalable phenotypic assays for metastasis, including live-cell measurements of attachment and motility, providing clearer insights into underlying mechanisms and identification of targeted therapeutics. To learn more, read our application note.

Measuring dexamethasone response in triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Investigate heterogeneity in the tumor microenvironment at single-cell resolution

Co-cultures of normal and cancer epithelial cells can model interactions in a tumor microenvironment. Pixel enables label-free, high-resolution spatial monitoring of these heterogenous cell populations, accurate classification of cell types, and tracking of functional changes in each cell type.

Classifier model distinguishes normal and cancer epithelial cells in co-culture using Pixel data. Prediction maps spatially track the population’s heterogeneity over time. Uncertainty in classification is often observed at the boundaries between cell types.

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Cancer cell biology

Decoding cancer at the cellular level

Oncology powered by microchips

Rich insights to accelerate cancer therapeutics and diagnostics

Assess dose-dependent compound effects on cell growth and death over time

Detect cell death with high sensitivity in immunotherapy assays

Monitor real-time effects of CAR-T cell therapy in tumor spheroids

Study the metastatic potential of cells and effects of anti-metastatic compounds

Investigate heterogeneity in the tumor microenvironment at single-cell resolution

Resources

Comparison of high-dimensional profiling in diverse cell lines

Real-time monitoring of CAR T-cell mediated killing of adherent tumor cells

Real-time monitoring of CAR T-cell mediated killing of suspension tumor cells

Monitoring of cell viability in adherent and suspension cells using electrical imaging

Spatial resolution: assessing population heterogeneity

Functional characterization of anti-metastatic agents using multi-parametric readouts

Measurement of Cell Death in Adherent and Suspension Cells Using CytoTronics’ Microplate

Monitoring motility using CytoTronics’ microplate

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