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Levitating Cells Could Help With Cancer Testing

Scientists are now able to levitate individual cells with magnets to measure the cell density, which may help increase the reliability of cancer testing and finding which cells survive through drug treatments.

by Polo Rocha

Associate Professor Sung Jung uses mass spectrometers to measure protein in cancer cells at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Monday, February 11, 2013. Baylor College of Medicine received a $6 million CPRIT grant to purchase advanced laboratory infrastructure and pay researchers to measure all of the metabolites and proteins in cancer cells at the same time.
Credit: Michael Stravato

Scientists are now able to levitate individual cells with magnets to measure cell density, which may help increase the reliability of cancer testing and finding which cells survive through drug treatments. Although scientists have levitated animals before, the challenge came in finding a way to levitate tiny cells. (Science Magazine)

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