Advancing cancer research using bioprinting for tumor-on-a-chip platforms

⁵ Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP), School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Avenue 639798, Singapore

⁶ Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA

⁷ Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

⁸ Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA

IJB 2016, 2(2), 3–8; https://doi.org/10.18063/IJB.2016.02.003

Published: 26 June 2016

© 2016 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

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Abstract

There is an urgent for a novel approach to cancer research with 1.7 million new cases of cancer occurring every year in the United States of America. Tumor models offer promise as a useful platform for cancer research without the need for animal models, but there remains a challenge to fabricate a relevant model which mimics the structure, function and drug response of human tumors. Bioprinting can address this need by fabricating three-dimensional constructs that mimic tumor heterogeneity, vasculature and spheroid structures. Furthermore, bioprinting can be used to fabricate tissue constructs within microfluidic platforms, forming “tumor-on-a-chip” devices which are ideal for high-throughput testing in a biomimetic microenvironment. Applications of tumors-on-a-chip include facilitating basic research to better understand tumor development, structure and function as well as drug screening to improve the efficiency of cancer drug discovery.

Keywords

bioprinting

cancer

tumor-on-a-chip

microfabrication

microfluidics

drug screening

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