Engineering Brain Tumor Microenvironment with Controlled Physical Features
Author(s)
Lim, Jungeun
Advisor(s)
Jeon, Noo Li
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Abstract
Brain tumors are one of the deadliest types of cancer. Furthermore, brain metastasis, which is when cancer cells infiltrate into the brain, greatly increases the fatality rate. Advances in the field of neuro-oncology have unveiled previously unappreciated molecular characterizations and diverse therapeutic approaches to treat brain tumors. Despite these advances, methods assessing targets in preclinical and clinical studies are still very limited. Although many components of the brain tumor microenvironment such as dynamic fluid flow and a unique extracellular matrix have been studied and shown to contribute to the development of cancer, the mechanisms of these components have not been clearly unveiled. To tackle this problem, organ-on-a-chip technology has the capabilities to reconstruct the physiology of complex microenvironments as well as recreate their mechanisms. Previous studies have employed the technique to recapitulate the brain tumor microenvironment. However, biological components required for the physiological reconstruction of the brain tumor microenvironment were absent in the platforms. By using organ-on-a-chip technology, we developed a microfluidic platform that can recapitulate the key structure, function, and dynamic microenvironment of the human brain tumor microenvironment, including dynamic fluid flow, an engineered extracellular matrix, and complex cellular components such as microvasculature and an immune system. The goal of this thesis dissertation is to conduct anti-cancer drug screening using our physiologically relevant brain tumor organ-on-a-chip, allowing for efficient administration of tumor treatment to brain tumor patients.
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Date
2022-05-16
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Text
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Dissertation