A common issue in cancer treatment is the lack of understanding of the heterogeneous chemical composition within individual tumors. It is known that several lipid bilayer extraction techniques allow molecular signals to be detected through microscopy as the tissue becomes less opaque. The goal of this project was to develop a method that could effectively remove lipid bilayer membranes from tissues. Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) with supercritical CO2 was used to remove lipids from porcine tissue. The results compare the transparency level of tissue undergoing SFE before and after treatment. Given the data obtained in the experiments, it can be concluded that SFE using CO2 has potential as a mechanism of lipid extraction for future verification of tumor heterogeneity.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Flores Castro, Danny Mauricio
• Brea, Bielinsky Alberto

Contributors

• Sakthikumar, Ambady
• Wang, Chaoming

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-050114-131955

Advisor

• Su, Ming

Year

• 2014

Date created

• 2014-05-01

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biomedical Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright