| Description |
Hadi Nia, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Boston University
Solid stress and elastic energy as new measures of tumor mechanopathology
Solid stress and tissue stiffness affect tumor progression, metastasis and treatment. Unlike stiffness, which can be precisely mapped in tumors, the measurement of solid stresses is challenging. In this seminar, I will present three distinct and quantitative techniques to obtain two-dimensional spatial mappings of solid stress and the resulting elastic energy in excised or in situ tumors with arbitrary shapes and wide size ranges. I will present major findings from the application of these methods in mouse models of primary tumors and metastasis including: (i) solid stress generation depends on both cancer cells and their microenvironment; (ii) solid stress increases with tumor size; and (iii) mechanical confinement by the surrounding tissue significantly contributes to intratumoral solid stress. Finally, I will discuss my more recent work on neurological and vascular impairments induced by solid stress from primary and metastatic brain tumors, and potential pharmacological remedies to counter these effects. |
