Modeling metastasis in vitro within 3-D host tissue organoids

2^nd International Conference on Tissue Science & Regenerative Medicine

August 26-28, 2013 DoubleTree by Hilton, Raleigh, NC, USA

Aleksander Skardal

Symposium: J Tissue Sci Eng

Abstract :

C ancer treatments have advanced in recent years, yet current models for drug discovery and metastasis exploration poorly mimic human cancer in vivo . Research generally relies on animal systems and two-dimensional (2-D) cultures, both of which suffer from inadequacies. Alternatively, 3-D systems of human-derived cells can promote cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, resembling in vivo conditions, but unfortunately are largely underutilized for cancer research. Here we present multiple host tissue-tumor systems for in vitro modeling of colon carcinoma metastasis with implications in exploring cancer biology and the potential to streamline the drug development pipeline.

Biography :

Aleksander Skardal received his Ph.D. at the University of Utah where he his research focused on hydrogel biomaterials and biofabrication techniques for engineering 3-D tissue constructs. He is currently at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine performing research in the areas of perinatal stem cell applications and the development of 3-D tissue models for in vitro biological exploration and drug screening