TUMOR-ON-CHIP

The development of cancer is strongly regulated by the microenvironment. To this day, most studies on cancer have been based on cell culture and animal experimentation. Although important progress has been made through these methods, both have limitations, one of the most relevant being the low control capacity of the factors (chemical gradients, mechanical properties of the matrix, interstitial fluid, etc.) that define the microenvironment and the possibility of monitoring the cell behaviour in real-time. The development of three-dimensional cultures on microfluidic chips allows these limitations to be overcome while facilitating the co-culture of different cell types. All this implies that this methodology is especially appropriate for the in-vitro creation of tumour organoids in 3D. Therefore, the main objective of this project is the design and manufacture of microfluidic platforms to grow tumour organoids in 3D.

TUMOR-ON-CHIP aims to integrate different engineering technologies such as microfluidics, microfabrication, tissue engineering, image processing and computer simulation, with the common objective of generating and reproducing functional three-dimensional in vitro pancreatic tumour models for oncological research, immunotherapy studies and drug screening.