Researchers propose PHI’s technology to assess reduction in cancer cell growth
PHI’s HoloMonitor® technology allows cancer researchers to effortlessly monitor the reduction in cancer cell growth in real-time without disturbing or destroying precious patient samples. Unlike cytotoxic cancer drugs, cytostatic drugs do not kill cancer cells. Instead they stop tumor growth by stopping cancer cells from multiplying. As a result cytostatic treatments have fewer side effects than cytotoxic treatments. Conventional methods to assess the effect of cytostatic drugs are time-consuming and destructive.
“We propose the use of holographic microscopy for assessing drug induced cell growth alterations. Holographic microscopy is a high-resolution imaging technique that enables real-time detection and quantification of both single as well as whole populations of cells, without the need for prior cell extraction, staining or exposing cells to harmful light sources. Compared to conventional approaches, PHI’s holographic microscope allows non-destructive analysis of cellular characteristics”,says article author Maria Falck Miniotis, Malmö University.
“Conventional methods require removal of a portion of the cancer cells from their culture environment or wasting precious patient samples by the use of destructive staining. This invasive multi-step approach is sample-wasting and time-consuming and calls for new and improved technology for cancer cell analysis of response to targeted treatment”, continuous Maria Falck Miniotis.
“The article authors at Malmö University are one of our initial customers in our growing list of customers. We congratulate the University team on their article acceptance for scientific publication. We expect that their pioneering work will soon be followed by others who are using our technology”, concludes Peter Egelberg, CEO PHI.
The article by Maria Falck Miniotis and colleagues was recently published in the scientific journal PLOS. The article can be found at dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106546.