Cynthia Hajal Ph.D student Email: chajal@mit.eduFocus group: Cancer, Angiogenesis Department: Mechanical Engineering Hometown: Undergrad: |
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| Research summary:
My project consists in developing a physiologically relevant 3D neurovascular unit on a microfluidic chip, defined by the presence of a blood-brain barrier (BBB), to study the mechanisms of tumor cell extravasation across the BBB. With this BBB model, I have characterized barrier tightness and vascular morphology, and have investigated the extravasation patterns of breast and lung tumor cells across the barrier. My future plan is to target relevant markers on the surface of tumor cells and brain stromal or endothelial cells in the microvascular networks to study their effect on extravasation. I also plan to assess the likelihood of relevant functionalized drugs to cross the BBB in this microfluidic model.
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