--- title: Cells pulse together as they grow — and malignant cells... description: MIT researchers discovered that epithelial cells synchronize and collectively pulse as they migrate, moving in and out in rhythmic waves roughly every hour.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/cells-pulse-together-as-they-grow-and-malignant-cells-pulse-the-longest-maf75mews twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Cells pulse together as they grow — and malignant cells pulse the longest | daily.dev og:description: MIT researchers discovered that epithelial cells synchronize and collectively pulse as they migrate, moving in and out in rhythmic waves roughly every hour.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/cells-pulse-together-as-they-grow-and-malignant-cells-pulse-the-longest-maf75mews og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/MAF75mEwS.png og:image:alt: Cells pulse together as they grow — and malignant cells pulse the longest og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cells pulse together as they grow — and malignant cells pulse the longest **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT researchers discovered that epithelial cells synchronize and collectively pulse as they migrate, moving in and out in rhythmic waves roughly every hour. Malignant breast cancer cells showed the most persistent synchronization, pulsing together twice as long as healthy cells. The team also found synchronization peaks at a certain cell density before declining as density increases further, a pattern relevant to conditions like asthma where epithelial cells fail to pack together properly. The researchers suggest this pulsing behavior could serve as a signal of tumor aggressiveness and a way to screen cancer or asthma drugs by observing whether they disrupt cell synchronization. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Cancer May Behave Like a Quantum System, Columbia Studies Suggest](https://daily.dev/posts/cancer-may-behave-like-a-quantum-system-columbia-studies-suggest-gpdfmrraw) · The Quantum Insider · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [New cell-collection device could improve early cancer detection](https://daily.dev/posts/new-cell-collection-device-could-improve-early-cancer-detection-unhlkqra2) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Single-molecule tracker illuminates workings of cancer-related proteins](https://daily.dev/posts/single-molecule-tracker-illuminates-workings-of-cancer-related-proteins-t11x0ujdt) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Soft Electronics Aid Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes](https://daily.dev/posts/soft-electronics-aid-stem-cell-therapy-for-diabetes-9axsnpih1) · IEEE Spectrum · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/cells-pulse-together-as-they-grow-and-malignant-cells-pulse-the-longest-maf75mews) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Cells pulse together as they grow — and malignant cells pulse the longest","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/cells-pulse-together-as-they-grow-and-malignant-cells-pulse-the-longest-maf75mews","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/cells-pulse-together-as-they-grow-and-malignant-cells-pulse-the-longest-maf75mews"},"datePublished":"2026-08-14T15:20:04.200Z","dateModified":"2026-08-14T15:20:21.513Z","description":"MIT researchers discovered that epithelial cells synchronize and collectively pulse as they migrate, moving in and out in rhythmic waves roughly every hour....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/02f206bc062c0ed229275c0965176fe2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/02f206bc062c0ed229275c0965176fe2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/881e20a40aa44b12ba4bd27f5c14289d","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/cells-pulse-together-as-they-grow-and-malignant-cells-pulse-the-longest-maf75mews","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Cells pulse together as they grow — and malignant cells pulse the longest"}]} ```