StretchBio aims at developing a compact nanosystem for continuous label-free ex vivo monitoring of the mechanical stresses occurring in living tissue samples under anomalous disease-associated conditions, such as solid tumours and other “mechano-pathologies”, with the goal of its use in drug screening and personalized medicine. Mechanical tension and stresses are considered key factors associated with the control of the growth and proliferation of tumoral cells as well as in human diseases that involve tissue rigidity alterations, including fibrosis, sclerosis or arthritis.

The basic principle of StretchBio is a two-dimensional force sensor system for the continuous ex vivo monitoring of tissue mechanics based on the deformation of nanopillars and the readout of such deformations. The design and fabrication of this two-dimensional force measuring nanosystem needs to be addressed in the presence of liquid tissue culture media, which will constitute the interpillar medium.

The overall goal of the here proposed project is the design, development, fabrication and proof of application of an advanced compact nanosystem for the continuous label-free ex vivo monitoring and fast quantification of two-dimensional mechanical stresses induced by fresh tumour samples upon their treatment with drugs aiming to rescue normal tissue elasticity. The proposed approach will be a huge step forward both in the development of personalized medicine, as well as in the study of tissue growth as it occurs during development, with applications in cancer and regenerative biomedicine, and represents also an improvement in the development and application of bio-nanosystems.