Dresden 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Poster Session I
BP 7.44: Poster
Montag, 9. März 2026, 15:00–17:00, P5
What we learned from 6000 patient blood samples measured with deformability cytometry: age, biomarkers, and disease mechanotypes — •Markéta Kubánková1,2, Lena Summa1,2, Maximilian Schlögel1,2, Martin Kräter1,2, Manfred Rauh3, Markus Metzler3, and Jochen Guck1,2 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany — 2Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Erlangen, Germany — 3Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine,University Hospital Erlangen, Germany
Deformability cytometry is a label-free microfluidic imaging technique that quantifies mechanical and morphological properties of single cells at ~1000 cells/s directly from brightfield images. Here we analyse >6000 whole-blood measurements from a clinical cohort ranging from newborns to adults. We developed an automated analysis pipeline combining feature extraction with clustering and classification of the main blood cell populations, replacing manual gating. Using this framework, we established age-dependent baselines of size and deformation for the major cell classes. We correlated the features with routine biomarkers such as CRP, IL-6 and PCT. Specific mechanotypes, particularly of neutrophils and monocytes, showed associations with these markers and provided information beyond simple cell counts. We also quantified the impact of pre-analytical confounders, such as the time between blood draw and measurement. Finally, by stratifying samples according to clinical information, we identified disease-related patterns in cell mechanotypes, providing a biophysical basis for future diagnostic applications.
Keywords: cytometry; cells; microfluidics; mechanics; biophysics