Preface

Part 1 Magnetics-based techniques from a physics of cancer perspective

Chapter 1 MRE and NMR on cancer cells and their ambient matrix
Chapter 2 Magnetic tweezer principles, results and applications in cancer

Chapter 3 Magnetic Twisting Cytometry of cancer cells

Chapter 4 Cytoskeletal remodeling dynamics of individual cancer cells and ambient

Part 2 Laser/optics-based techniques from a cancer-specific view

Chapter 5 Optical Cell Stretcher in the Physics of Cancer field

Chapter 6 Optical tweezer principles and findings for cancer-specific issues
Chapter 7 High throughput microfluidics-based cell stretching of cancer and cancer-associated cells

Part 3 Laser/fluorescence-based techniques in the field of physics of cancer

Chapter 8 Confocal laser scanning microscopy in the physics of cancer perspective
Chapter 9 High resolution microscopy in cancer research

Chapter 10 FRAP in cancer cell approaches

Chapter 11 FRET in normal and diseased cells

There is a rich history of the physical sciences contributing to cancer research and treatments, yet there is currently no such book that covers all of the new techniques and developments in the field of the physics of cancer. The purpose of this book is to make these very relevant topics visible to the research field to ensure they receive more attention in the scientific community.

This fourth volume of the 'Physics of Cancer (Second Edition)' series contains four chapters dealing with mechanobiology using biophysical methods. The first chapter deals with mechanosensing and mechanotransduction on vastly different length scales. The second chapter discusses biophysical techniques for mechanical phenotype characterization of cells and nuclei. The third provides an overview of the mechanical phenotype of the plasma membrane. The fourth chapter contains the latest insights into the mechanical assessment of cell spheroids, organoids and tumoroids.

The basic approach of this text is to present the latest promising findings to the scientific community, addressing scientists at all career stages. Current and groundbreaking references are included throughout, meaning that each chapter is perfectly suited to serve as a reference for future scientific works and to provide scientific impetus for new research approaches.

Claudia Tanja Mierke is Head of the Department of Biological Physics at the Peter Debye Institute for Soft Matter Physics at Leipzig University. Her primary research areas are cell biophysics and cell mechanics, adhesion, motility (invasion) in biomimetic matrices, cancer and inflammation, cancer metastasis and tumormicroenvironment mechanics. She has published over 150 referred journal articles, books and book chapters largely dealing with soft matter physics and the physics of cancer. Over the past 18 years, Claudia had taught courses in biophysics, soft matter physics, cell biology for physicists and cellular biophysics, to both undergraduate and graduate students.