GT Courtesy Listing
Title: |
Biomaterials Offer Cancer Research the Third Dimension |
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Speaker: |
Prof. Dietmar Hutmacher |
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Affiliation: |
Professor & Chair of Regenerative Medicine, Queensland University of Technology |
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When: |
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 11:00:00 AM |
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Where: |
IBB Building, Room 1128 |
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Host: |
Bob Guldberg | |
Abstract
Studies in standard cell culture have produced many results to help us to interpret complex biological phenomena and hypotheses. However, from an anatomical and physiological point of view, cancer cells cultured in 3D are characterized by several factors differentiating them from monolayer cultures and paralleling much more closely those of in vivo tumors. In particular, early events of tumor growth before effective vascularisation appear to be closely reproduced in those 3D culture systems. Usually, 3D cultures of tumor cells develop hollow cores that resemble the necrotic areas of in vivo cancers: areas that are usually observed at a distance from nutrient and oxygen supplies. Importantly, the proliferation of tumor cells cultured in 3D is typically slower and hence more physiological than that of monolayer cultures. Advances in tissue engineering (TE) have traditionally focused on the design of scaffold or matrices based culture systems and models that reflect as closely as possible the biological, physical and biochemical environment of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). While clinical applications based on TE concepts such as the replacement of body tissues attract most of the media attention, it is apparent that other fields of medical research could be enhanced by the powerful and modular tools already developed in TE. For example, three dimensional (3D) in vitro and/or in vivo TE models that are designed to resemble the physiology of tissues could be used to study disease pathogenesis of tumors. Here, we take a look at the role that biomaterials originally developed for TE platforms could contribute to future cancer research, particularly with 3D in vitro and in vivo tumor modeling. |
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Biography A biography was not submitted with this seminar. |
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Notes |
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