HCMP Characteristics Assessment for in situ Microenvironmental Force MeasurementdissertationsRodriguez Navas, MartacreatorDarling, EricAdvisorMorgan, JeffreyReaderKesari, HaneeshReaderBrown University. Biology and Medicine: Biomedical Engineeringsponsor2024X, 35 p.born digitalThesis (Sc. M.)--Brown University, 2024thesesEarly tissue formation and regeneration is regulated by mechanical forces. However, few tools exist that can measure such forces in situ in cell-dense structures and in 3D. Measuring the deformation of embedded HCMP in microtissues can be used to address this gap in knowledge, but there is a lack of characterization for this approach. In this study, we compared HCMP with different sizes, which we hypothesized would measure different force ranges; stiffnesses which we hypothesized would impact measurement resolution; and protein coatings, to measure the forces in cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions. We also evaluated the accuracy of our methodology by modifying the undeformed size of the analyzed particles, treating our cells with cytoskeletal disruptors and comparing the use of a virtual Time 0 image with the real Time 0 images. We concluded that large soft probes provide the most accurate measurements and that protein-coated particles measure tensile forces while uncoated probes measure more compressive forces.Biomedical engineeringtissue engineeringmechanobiologyEnglishRPB20240501