Completed- Multi-compartmental tumor-on-a-chip to study breast cancer: MTOAC
Breast cancer is one of the most fatal cancers for women all over the world. Even if significant progress has been made in treatments, drug distribution at the molecular level is not fully understood yet, and some treatments remain ineffective.
The use of a tumor-on-chip model could lead to a better management of this cancer.
This project is completed now. If interested, feel free to contact us.
Tumor on-a-chip device for drug screening of breast cancer: introduction
Currently, cancer research is mainly based on studies performed either on 2D cell culture, which is not representative of real in vivo conditions, or on living animals, leading to ethical issues and questionable extrapolation to humans.
Organ-on-a-chip technology, particularly tumor-on-a-chip, allows us to mimic the cells’ microenvironment accurately, to study diseases’ mechanisms, or to test new drugs.
It offers a realistic animal-free alternative to better understand breast cancer mechanisms.
Multicompartemental tumor-on-a-chip: project description
In this project, we will recreate the environment of breast tumors by surrounding tumor organoids with fibroblasts and endothelial cells, all coculturing in a biocompatible hydrogel.
In the tumor-on-a-chip model, the microenvironment of the cells will be carefully controlled with a pressure controller (Elveflow) combined with valves and actuators. We will test different combinations of anti-cancer drugs to study the existing synergies between them and better understand how they interact with the tumor.
This drug screening will allow the development of more effective breast cancer treatments.
Related content
Have a read here on the breast tumor-on-a-chip devices review written by Dr. Subia Bano.
Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 795754 (MTOAC project).
Researcher
Dr. Subia Bano
Research Associate
- Post-Doc at the University of Eastern Finland
- Post-Doc at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative biology (India)
- PhD in Biotechnology (Indian Institute of technology, India)
Areas of expertise:
Tissue engineering, Biomaterials, Drug Delivery, Tumor-on-chip.