Cancer Tissue Engineering: A low cost tool for accelerating novel therapies from bench to bed
Thursday 11 May 15:00 until 16:00
Pevensey 3 4C10
Speaker: Eirini Velliou
Part of the series: Materials Physics seminars
Abstract:
The main pre-clinical trial options for screening of novel therapies for cancer treatment are (i) in vitro 2D systems and (ii) animal models. 2D (tissue-culture flask/monolayer) systems are reproducible and low cost platforms, however they are inaccurate in re-capitulating the three-dimensional properties of the tumour microenvironment. Animal models are extremely expensive, they lack reproducibility and, even orthotopic xenografts (which are clinically more relevant than simple animal models) are still a compromise between two species. Therefore, the inaccuracy of the current platforms leads to a significant delay on the development and validation of cancer therapies.
Advances in tissue engineering point that 3D scaffold systems can better reflect the in vivo tumour micro-environment as they can guarantee a physiological distribution of oxygen, nutrients and treatment (i.e. chemotherapy, radiotherapy). Furthermore, in such bio-engineering platforms it is possible to culture patient derived cells, leading to the development of personalised in vitro tumours which essentially are customised bio-reactors with features and characteristics that are unique and tightly linked to a specific individual. Therefore, tissue engineering platforms are promising low cost tools for cancer screening.
In this seminar, I will present a thorough analysis of the features of cancer tissue engineering platforms including discussions on biomaterials (from polymers to carbon nanotubes), stem cell biology and bioreactor design. Case studies will be also discussed, based on the research activities of my research group, i.e., the Bioprocess and Biochemical Engineering group of University of Surrey.
By: Sean Paul Ogilvie
Last updated: Tuesday, 11 April 2017