Amrein, MatthiasTopham, Jared James2021-06-302021-06-302021-06-29Topham, J. J. (2021). Cell Vibrational Profiling (CVP) Using Optical Tweezers to Improve Tumour Diagnosis: A Novel Methodological Approach (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113567Cellular oscillations have long been recognized and previously suggested as a powerful real-time diagnostics tool for identifying and differentiating biological specimens. The oscillatory signals emitted by various biological samples are thought to be due to metabolic processes inherent to the measured sample. Various methods to measure oscillatory signals have used atomic force and dark-field microscopy accompanied by traditional interpretative methods such as Root Mean Square, Fast Fourier transform, time-domain analysis, and power spectral density. While these approaches were fundamental to the recognition of the field of cellular oscillations, the instrumentation lacked sensitivity and resolution, leading to difficulties in (1) analyzing complete frequency spectra of more than a few Hz, (2) providing empirically tested methodological approaches, and (3) statistically differentiating and/or determining distinct frequency regions for a cell-type of interest. This thesis sought to build and test a novel methodological approach to measuring and determining cellular vibrational frequency profiles. We hypothesized, each cell line (NMSCs, HEKa, and A549) exhibited unique and measurable vibrational frequency profiles reflective of their intrinsic cellular processes, measured via optical tweezers. We disclosed our efforts to improve the methodology by (1) optimizing experimental set-ups, looking specifically at sample preparation (implementation of microfluidic chambers, synchronization of cell cycles, and changes to media viscosity), and (2) analyzing data through the implementation of multivariate statistical analysis achieved through our newly developed software: VibrationScanner. Our results capitalized on our discoveries to establish a new method, cell vibrational profiling, in hopes that it may become a high-throughput, cost-effective, and sensitive technique to reliably identify biological functions and frequency components of cells.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Optical TweezersCancer BiologyMultivariate Statistical AnalysisPrincipal Component AnalysisOrthogonal Partial Least Squares - Discriminate AnalysisCellular Vibrational ProfilingFrequencyOscillationsNon-Melanoma Skin CancersNon-Small Cell Lung CancerBiologyMedicine and SurgeryOncologyComputer ScienceEngineering--Biomedicalmaster thesis10.11575/PRISM/38965