Investigating the growth signatures of single
cells will determine how cell growth is regulated and cell
size is maintained. The ability to precisely measure such
changes and alterations in cell size and cell mass could be
important for applications in cancer and drug screening.
Here, we measure the mass growth rate of individual be-
nign (MCF-10A), non-invasive (MCF-7), and highly-
invasive malignant (MDA-MB-231) breast cancer cells.
A micro-patterning technique was employed to allow for
the long-term growth of motile cells. Results show mass
growth rates at 4.8%, 1.2%, and 2.8% for MCF-10A,
MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231, demonstrating that normal
cells have a higher mass growth rate than cancerous cells.
All the cell lines show an increase in mass change rate
indicating that the mass accumulation rate is exponential
over a single cell cycle. The growth rates measured with
our MEMS sensor are compared with doubling times ob-
tained through conventional bulk analysis techniques, and
exhibit excellent agreement.

• Evidence of differential mass change rates between human breast cancer cell lines in culture