A bone marrow niche on a chip to study human dormancy
Dormant cancer cells hide in bone marrow. A lab-built model of that hiding place would let us watch them sleep and wake, and test drugs on them.
Microfluidic and organ-on-chip systems can now sustain human haematopoietic niches with mesenchymal stroma, osteoblasts and vasculature under flow. Adding patient-derived tumour cells creates a human dormancy model with live-cell imaging, in which awakening triggers such as inflammation, chemotherapy or niche disruption can be dialled in and quantified.
- Dormant cells and minimal residual disease · After a 'successful' treatment, cells can sleep for years then relapse. We can barely detect them and cannot target them.
- Preclinical models that do not predict people · Nine in ten cancer drugs that work in mice fail in humans. Our models are the reason.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaTest drugs on freshly cut slices of the patient's own tumour
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Single-cell & spatial profiling, Patient-derived organoids, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaA drug screen that only rewards killing sleeping cancer cells
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Patient-derived organoids, Dormant cells and minimal residual disease, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- InstitutionAtrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Patient-derived organoids, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaGrow tumour organoids together with the patient's own immune cells
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Patient-derived organoids, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaAutomated combination discovery: patient-sample screens feeding Bayesian platform trials
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Patient-derived organoids, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- CompanyValius Sciences
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Single-cell & spatial profiling.
- IdeaZebrafish avatars for a drug answer within a week
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaRun the mouse or organoid trial at the same time as the human trial
Shares Functional (ex vivo) drug testing, Patient-derived organoids, Preclinical models that do not predict people.