Stretching cells to learn more about them

05. A tool developed at EPFL can stretch and compress cells, mimicking what happens in the body. The aim: to study the role played by these mechanical forces in cases of cancer or lymphatic diseases. Complex mechanical forces are constantly at work in the human body, deforming our cells. In our blood vessel walls, for example, cells are stretched approximately once per second by the pulsing blood flow. The importance of these mechanical forces is only now starting to be understood. They influence a number of the cells? key biological functions, such as proliferation and gene expression, and they may play a role in the development of cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers.