Development of a System for Fast Identification and Characterization of Biological Cells

Bio Impedance Spectroscopy (BIS) consists in the application of a small frequency variable electrical signal to a biological material and measuring its response. This research explores BIS applied to cancer and healthy cells and tissues, with the objective to try to distinguish them and also to explore differences between metastatic and non-metastatic cancers. Important trends were found in the direction of a significant different spectral response between cancerous and healthy tissues, close correlated with the effects of the cancer in the normal tissues. Also, one physical characteristic that can possibly be used to distinguish metastatic from non-metastatic cancer cells was found: the cell surface charge.