By engineering common filter papers, similar to coffee filters, a team of NYU Abu Dhabi researchers have created high throughput arrays of miniaturized 3D tumor models to replicate key aspects of tumor physiology, which are absent in traditional drug testing platforms. With the new paper-based technology, the formed tumor models can be safely cryopreserved and stored for prolonged periods for on-demand drug testing use.  These cryopreservable tumor models could provide the pharmaceutical industry with an easy and low-cost method for investigating the outcomes of drug efficacy, potentially bolstering personalized medicine. The developed technology can be transferred to other trending therapeutic applications such as measuring tumor response to drug concentration gradients, studying cancer cell signaling pathways, and investigations of invasive tumors.

The findings were published this month in the paper Cryopreservable Arrays of Paper-Based 3D Tumor Models for High Throughput Drug Screening, in the flagship journal, Lab on a Chip. The findings build on the team’s earlier research engineering the paper platforms.

Led by Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at NYUAD Mohammad A. Qasaimeh, the researchers sought to develop 3D tumor models because they offer great potential for understanding the fundamental mechanisms governing tumor responses to drug treatments and provide opportunities to develop a number of emerging therapeutic applications. Currently, most preclinical drug screening is conducted on simplified two-dimensional (2D) monolayers of cell culture which do not fully represent the complexity of human tissues and organs.

Existing methods for developing 3D cell cultures and tumor models are laborious, technically challenging, time consuming, and do not allow cryopreservation for future use. This contributes to high attrition rates in the drug development process and can cause significant delays to market and major financial losses to companies.