Funded Project (2022-2024) Artificial Tumors to Study Cancer Pathologies
Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases of all times. One reason to explain the high mortality of patients affected by this pathology, is the existence of a specific feature characterizing neoplastic cells, known as tumor heterogeneity. Tumor heterogeneity describes the co-localization of malignant cells having multiple geno/phenotypes, in the same tissue. Examples of this heterogeneity are the presence of cells with different morpho-mechanical activity, involving modifications in their sizes and/or number of nuclei, to name a couple of examples.1
Since this variability enables malignant cells to survive to chemo-, radio- and/or immunotherapies, the possibility to study this process in vitro, mimicking its generation in an environment resembling the biophysical properties of neoplastic tissues, such as the one existing in tumor-like microcapsules.2 This represents a very attractive option to find new ways to fight this pathology.
With this purpose in mind, this project is focused on using polymer-based tumor-like microcapsules to mimic the malignant milieu, in order to determine how the tumor heterogeneity is triggered by biomechanical stress. In order to accomplish this task, in this research we will be combining Biofabrication techniques, with the use of high-throughput analytical strategies, such as Single-Cell RNA-seq and single Cell Traction Force Microscopy, to enabling us characterizing the cells at genetical and biophysical level.
