Systems, compositions, and methods for evaluating biomechanical properties of cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12332254-B2
Application number	US-202017605792-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2020
Priority date	Apr 24, 2019
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

The response of biological cells to applied stress is central to the functioning of living systems. The present disclosure is directed to systems, compositions and methods for rapidly reporting biomechanical properties of cells or cellular organelles at a single cell or population level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a liquid crystal material, wherein the liquid crystal material has a first state at a first condition and optionally a second state at a second condition;
a device for holding a cell or an organelle of a cell, and the liquid crystal material, wherein the device is designed for use in optical imaging the cell or the organelle in the presence of the liquid crystal material at an isotonic concentration; and
wherein the system is configured to compare a first state of the cell or the organelle in the first state of the liquid crystal material to a second state of the cell or the organelle at the second state of the liquid crystal material or a second state in an aqueous buffer to determine a biomechanical property of the cell or the organelle.

2. A composition, comprising a liquid crystal material at an isotonic concentration and a cell or an organelle of a cell,
wherein the liquid crystal material has a first state at a first temperature or a first concentration and a second state at a second temperature or a second concentration, and
wherein the cell or the organelle has a first state of the cell or the organelle in the first state of the liquid crystal material and a second state of the cell or the organelle at the second state of the liquid crystal material,
such that the composition having the first state and the second state of the cell or the organelle in the liquid crystal material are configured to determine a biomechanical property of the cell or the organelle.

3. A method of evaluating a cell or an organelle of a cell, comprising:
detecting a first state of the cell or the organelle in an aqueous buffer;
detecting a second state of the cell or the organelle in a liquid crystal material;
comparing the first state of the cell or the organelle to the second state of the cell or the organelle, thereby determining a biomechanical property of the cell.

4. A method of evaluating a cell or an organelle of a cell, comprising
placing the cell or the organelle in a liquid crystal material at a first state, and detecting a first state of the cell or the organelle;
effecting a change in the liquid crystal material from the first state to a second state, and detecting a second state of the cell or the organelle after the change;

wherein the first state of the liquid crystal material is less ordered than the second state of the liquid crystal material, or the first state of the liquid crystal material is more ordered than the second state of the liquid crystal material; and
comparing the first state of the cell or the organelle to the second state of cell or the organelle, thereby determining a biomechanical property of the cell or the organelle.

5. A method of evaluating cells or organelles, comprising:
placing the cells or the organelles in a liquid medium, wherein a part of the liquid medium is in a liquid crystal state, and another part of the liquid medium is in an isotropic state, and wherein a first group of cells or organelles are in the part of the liquid medium that is in the liquid crystal state, and a second group of cells or organelles are in the part of the liquid medium that is in the isotropic state;
detecting a state of the first group of cells or organelles and a state of the second group of cells or organelles; and
comparing the state of the first group of cells or organelles to the state of the second group of cells or organelles, thereby determining a biomechanical property of the cells or the organelles.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the state of the first group of cells or the organelles and the state of the second group of cells or the organelles comprise the shape of the cells or the organelles.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a difference between the state of the first group of cells or organelles and the state of the second group of cells or organelles indicates the health status of the cells or the organelles.

8. The method of claim 3 or claim 4 , wherein the liquid crystal material is at an isotonic concentration.

9. The method of claim 3 or claim 4 , wherein the liquid crystal material is a lyotropic liquid crystal.

10. The method of claim 3 or claim 4 , wherein the liquid crystal material is a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the lyotropic liquid crystal is a non-amphiphilic liquid crystal.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the non-amphiphilic liquid crystal is colloidal liquid crystal or liquid crystal comprised of polymers or oligomers.

13. The method of claim 3 or claim 4 , wherein the cell is a eukaryotic cell.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the cell is a mammalian cell or a plant cell.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mammalian cell is a human cell.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the human cell is a red blood cell.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the red blood cell is from a human suspected to be suffering from malaria or sickle cell anemia.

18. The method of claim 3, or claim 4 , wherein the organelle is chloroplast.

19. The method of claim 3, claim 4, or claim 6 , wherein the determining the shape of the cell comprises imaging the cell using an imaging apparatus.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the imaging apparatus is selected from an optical microscope, a confocal microscope or a camera.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first condition comprises a first temperature, a first concentration, or both the first temperature and the first concentration, and optionally the second condition comprises a second temperature, a second concentration, or both the second temperature and the second concentration.

22. The system of claim 1 , wherein the liquid crystal material is a lyotropic liquid crystal, the lyotropic liquid crystal is a non-amphiphilic liquid crystal, the non-amphiphilic liquid crystal is a colloidal liquid crystal.

23. The system of claim 1 , wherein the liquid crystal material is a chromonic lyotropic liquid crystal.

24. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the liquid crystal material is a lyotropic liquid crystal, the lyotropic liquid crystal is a non-amphiphilic liquid crystal, the non-amphiphilic liquid crystal is a colloidal liquid crystal.

25. The composition of claim 2 , wherein the liquid crystal material is a chromonic lyotropic liquid crystal.

Assignees

• Univ Cornell

Inventors

• Abbott Nicholas
• Nayani Karthik

Classifications

• G06T2207/30024

  Cell structures in vitro; Tissue sections in vitro · CPC title

• G06T2207/10056

  Microscopic image · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• G01N1/36

  Embedding or analogous mounting of samples · CPC title

• C09K2019/3425

  Six-membered ring with oxygen(s) in fused, bridged or spiro ring systems · CPC title