City of Hope and UC Berkeley Researchers Teach AI to Spot Cancer Risk by Squeezing Individual Breast Cells

City of Hope and UC Berkeley Researchers Teach AI to Spot Cancer Risk by Squeezing Individual Breast Cells

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 23, 2026-

AI squeezes individual breast cells to learn how to spot cancer risk

Researchers at City of Hope, a cancer research and treatment organization, and the University of California, Berkeley, have created a novel microfluidic platform that can assess women's breast cancer risk at the cellular level. The first-of-its-kind platform squeezes individual breast epithelial cells, creating a taxing environment to measure how they deform, recover, and behave under stress, according to a new study published in eBioMedicine.

AI Learns to Predict Breast Cancer Risk from How Single Cells Respond to Pressure

A study headed by researchers at City of Hope and the University of California, Berkeley has found that physical and mechanical properties of normal human mammary epithelial cells can offer a “functional readout” of biological age and breast cancer susceptibility. The team created a novel, high-throughput microfluidic platform that can assess women’s breast cancer risk at the cellular level. The mechano-node-pore sensing (mechano-NPS) platform, …