Projects

In ADAPT-2, an innovative microtumor handling platform is significantly advanced towards automation. The platform will be used to gently select and sort 3D microtumors of different origin based on universally applicable protocols and animal-free approaches for applications in clinical diagnostics and for establishing microtumor biobanks in drug development. Multicellular spheroids (MCS) are one of the most typical 3D cell culture models due to their simplicity, reproducibility and similarity to physiological tissues, which can be particularly well adapted to different HTS technologies and are widely used in drug development (Wang et al., 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tips.2022.03.014). Therefore, IMTEK will establish the fabrication and culture of multicellular tumor spheroids (MCTS) as a standard 3D cell culture model for different tumor entities. Animal component-free cell culture conditions will be considered for the culture of the underlying cell lines, for the fabrication of the MCTS and for their propagation. Generally applicable protocols will be developed for this purpose. The MCTS will then be used as a comparatively unlimited and reproducible 3D model to qualify the extended platform. In particular, the MCTS will be made available for establishing the platform's new functionalities developed by Hahn-Schickard, such as the 3D imaging module based on holographic tomography. In the development of an automated deep data analysis of microtumors based on artificial intelligence (AI), the MCTS will be used to correlate image data of the MCTS culture with their proliferation behavior. Effects of drug treatment on MCTS growth behavior will also be investigated and further readout options such as cytotoxicity assays will be established. These studies will be performed in parallel with the studies of patient derived tumor organoids provided by 2cureX, thus significantly expanding the range of 3D tumor cell models that can be processed using the ADAPT platform.