Motor Control: How Does a Cancer Cell Power its Movement?

Motor Control: How Does a Cancer Cell Power its Movement?

Collections: Image Award Winners, Metastasis

2012 Award Winner

Salil Desai, Sangeeta Bhatia, Mehmet Toner and Daniel Irimia
 

Koch Institute at MIT, Center for Engineering in Medicine, MGH, Massachusetts General Hospital

Epi-Fluorescence and Phase Contrast Micrograph

Much of the deadly impact of cancer is due to metastasis, the spread of cancer cells to distant tissues.  But what drives a cancer cell’s movementthrough the body?  Here, researchers investigate the role of mitochondria, the “powerhouses” inside cancer cells, as the cells travel through tiny fluid-filled channels.

Video

Salil Desai explains how and why he took this image of cancer cells moving through microscopic channels.

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