Hi scholars!
I am excited to share the outline of my Laidlaw Undergraduate Research Project, which focuses on developing and optimizing a microfluidic platform to study how ovarian cancer cells interact with the mesothelial lining of the peritoneal cavity.
Research Topic & Core Problem
Ovarian cancer has a strong tendency to metastasize throughout the peritoneal cavity. For tumor cells circulating in ascitic fluid, one of the critical early steps of metastasis is their adhesion to the mesothelium: the thin layer of cells lining the abdominal cavity. Understanding this process is important because tumor-mesothelial adhesion can determine where metastatic lesions establish and develop.
Previous work from our lab demonstrated that the sialyl Lewis X (sLeX)-P-selectin interaction plays an important role in mediating ovarian cancer cell adhesion to mesothelial cells under the fluid shear conditions found in ascites. However, accurately reproducing these dynamic interactions in a controllable experimental system remains challenging.
My project builds upon this work by developing and optimizing a microfluidic platform that models tumor-cell adhesion under physiologically relevant fluid flow.
Project Objectives
The project aims to establish a robust and reproducible platform for investigating cancer-cell adhesion dynamics by:
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Microfluidic platform development: Optimizing the design and fabrication of a microfluidic chip capable of reproducing controlled fluid-flow conditions relevant to the ovarian cancer microenvironment.
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Model optimization: Establishing experimental conditions that allow metastatic and non-metastatic ovarian cancer cells to be compared under defined shear stresses.
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Adhesion analysis: Characterizing how cancer cells attach to the mesothelial surface and how adhesion dynamics change under different physical and biological conditions.
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Platform validation: Evaluating the reproducibility and sensitivity of the system so that it can ultimately be used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor-mesothelial adhesion.
Why does this matter?
Cancer metastasis is not simply determined by the properties of tumor cells themselves. It is a highly dynamic process shaped by mechanical forces, cell-cell interactions, signaling pathways, and the surrounding tumor microenvironment.
By combining microfluidics with cancer biology, this project aims to provide a more physiologically relevant way of studying these interactions than conventional static cell-culture systems. In the longer term, such platforms could help us better understand the mechanisms governing ovarian cancer dissemination and potentially provide a system for investigating therapeutic strategies that disrupt metastatic adhesion.
This project has also given me an exciting opportunity to explore the intersection of cancer biology, mechanobiology, microengineering, and quantitative cell biology ~ areas that I hope to continue connecting in my future research.
I am looking forward to developing the platform further and seeing where the project takes us!
Stay tuned for the updates, and feel free to connect or have a discussion anytime!
#LaidlawScholars #UndergraduateResearch #OvarianCancer #CancerResearch #Microfluidics #Mechanobiology #CancerMetastasis #BiomedicalEngineering #HKU