Inventions and Innovations in Preclinical Platforms for Cancer Research

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems can be regarded as suitable platforms to bridge the huge gap between animal studies and two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell culture to study chronic diseases such as cancer. In particular, the preclinical platforms for multicellular spheroid formation and culture can be regarded as ideal in vitro tumour models. The complex tumour microenvironment such as hypoxic region and necrotic core can be recapitulated in 3D spheroid configuration. Cells aggregated in spheroid structures can better illustrate the performance of anti-cancer drugs as well. Various methods have been proposed so far to create such 3D spheroid aggregations. Both conventional techniques and microfluidic methods can be used for generation of multicellular spheroids. In this review paper, we first discuss various spheroid formation phases. Then, the conventional spheroid formation techniques such as bioreactor flasks, liquid overlay and hanging droplet technique are explained. Next, a particular topic of the hydrogel in spheroid formation and culture is explored. This topic has received less attention in the literature. Hydrogels entail some advantages to the spheroid formation and culture such as size uniformity, the formation of porous spheroids or hetero-spheroids as well as chemosensitivity and invasion assays and protecting from shear stress. Finally, microfluidic methods for spheroid formation and culture are briefly reviewed.

A New Form of Velocity Distribution in Rectangular Microchannels with Finite Aspect Ratios

“…(7) or Eq. (14)). In addition, the obtained exact solutions are valid for any range of the channel aspect ratio.…”

“…Microchannels are basic components in drug delivery devices [1,2], micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) [3], and lab-on-a-chip systems [4], microfluidic assisted reproductive technology (ART) [5] and other microfluidic components [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Large surface-to-volume ratio (SVR) [21][22][23] of microchannels makes them an excellent choice for compact and efficient heat exchangers in electronic cooling devices [24,25].…”

Integrated Microphysiological Systems: Transferable Organ Models and Recirculating Flow

“…MTs can be broadly divided into two distinct groups: a) Spheroids, which are cell aggregates, formed from a cell suspensions ( Figure 3 A) including single or multiple cell types, with cell lines, primary cells, or iPSCs as cell source, and b) organoids, which are self‐organizing, highly complex structures (Figure B) that are formed from proliferating cells, mostly stem cells, that differentiate and grow . A main advantage of spheroid models is the highly uniform and reproducible, rapid generation through several established methods, such as the use of ultralow‐adhesion plates, hanging drops, bioreactors, or bioprinting, which renders spheroid production scalable for high‐throughput applications. Organoids, on the other hand, are promising models to study organ development, diseases, and the impact of compounds on cellular or tissue processes .…”

Microneedle Arrays for Sampling and Sensing Skin Interstitial Fluid

“…Alternatively, microfluidic technology can address the limitations associated with conventional ISF sampling techniques. Microfluidics is an emerging science and technology that can offer significant improvements over various fields, including surface science [15], porous systems [16], nanotechnology for disease diagnosis [17], mixing [18], and separation [19,20], mechanobiology [21], cancer research [22,23], cell culture [24,25], single-cell analysis [26], drug delivery at cellular [27] and tissue levels [28], electrochemical biosensing [29], and POC sensing [30]. Furthermore, the emerging field of micro elastofluidics can provide microfluidic solutions for a flexible, conformal system attached to the skin [27].…”