We have worked on dielectrophoresis of cancer cells for 20 years, initially with a focus on drug resistance (Biophysical Journal, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta) and changes caused by anti-cancer agents, such as apoptosis (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, International Journal of Nanomedicine, Integrative Biology).

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Both of these showed a strong dependence on ion channels - chloride in the case of drug resistance, calcium in the early stages of apoptosis - that DEP is able to detect more quickly than any other method.

 

Our current work focuses on the transition of cancer cells from a solid to a metastasising phenotype, a phenomenon that is not fully understood. It is known, for example, that changes in the cell membrane potential accompany cell metastasis. We have worked with Daniela Costea at the Gade Institute in Norway for many years on the changes in the cell's electrical phenotype during the same transition. Working with oral cancer stem cells we have observed changes in the cell membrane, particularly focusing on the membrane capacitance, as cells become more tumorigenic (Integrative Biology), and with colleagues at the Eastman Dental Institute in London on changes observed as cells become first precancerous, then cancerous (Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry).