Description:
INV-14119
Background
Most common cancer models and cell therapy are used to evaluate the efficacy of drugs at the preclinical stage. 2D monolayers have failed to mimic in‑vivo human tumor biology and do not consider the effect of tumor microenvironment when testing out the therapeutic efficacy of new drug candidates. As a result, 90% of the promising preclinical drugs fail to transform into an efficacious treatment option.
A robust microfluidic method is developed to generate 3D cellular biomaterial (such as alginate, cologne, PLGA, and agarose) spheroids, which resembles in-vivo cell delivery methods.
This method allows the encapsulation of several cell types and the introduction of different reagents into the microsphere. This application can be applied for beta cell delivery in biopolymer matrix in diabetes.
Technology Overview
The PDMS‑glass microfluidic devices are fabricated by standard soft lithography methods.
Monodisperse alginate spheroids/polymer were generated in microfluidic devices that combine internal gelation and T‑junction droplet formation by introducing a gelling solution containing a divalent cation such as calcium in the form of calcium chloride solution.
The proposed method can be applied towards the generation of agarose‑based spheroids for encapsulation of bacteria, fast bacteria growth, diagnostics, and sustainability test to evaluate drug effectiveness.
Benefits
- Sustainability testing
- Diagnostics
- Drug effectiveness
- Cell co‑culture methods
- Pharmacokinetics
Applications
- Biomedical research
- Drug research
Opportunity
- License
- Partnering
- Research Collaboration