Radboudumc

Radboudumc
Partner website

Radboudumc is one of the leading university medical centers in Europe. 

Our mission is to have a significant impact on healthcare. We aim to be a front runner in the development of sustainable, innovative, and affordable healthcare. With a staff of superb medical experts and researchers and a focus on person-oriented care, we are committed to bring our innovations into the world, where more people and next generations can benefit from them.

But we cannot do this alone. On this adventure, we want to collaborate with partners from industry and government that share our commitment and uphold the highest standards and ethical behavior. Together, we can solve the huge challenges that global society faces and benefit from today’s opportunities, such as artificial intelligence, personalized medicine, and much more.

Current projects

SMART-ToC Tumor-on-Chip (ToC) platform incorporating Sensing hydrogel MAtrices

SMART-ToC is conducted by a transdisciplinary team set to develop an advanced breast tumor-on-chip model as a tool to test novel anti-cancer therapies and enable personalized medicine.
4 years | 4 countries | 6 societal & industry partners & 4 research institutions (2 technical universities, 1 applied science university & 1 university medical centre)
Tumor tissues are highly heterogeneous and vary with disease progression. Heterogeneity, as reported for certain microenvironmental parameters (oxygen, pH, tissue stiffness), often correlates with poor treatment success. Yet, current in-vitro/in-vivo tumor models do not properly incorporate spatiotemporal variations and thus have limited translational value. Therefore, innovative approaches are needed for advanced modeling of the tumor microenvironment, that correlate spatiotemporal alterations to therapy responses, to ultimately understand interrelationships and facilitate cost-effective (immuno)therapy development. Such approaches will be a gamechanger towards in vitro pharmacokinetics studies and provide a trajectory towards personalized medicine, after model personalization using patient-derived materials.
SMART-ToC will develop an advanced breast tumor-on-chip model incorporating essential cellular, physical, and chemical elements that impact therapeutic response; validate this model for antibody-drug conjugates and immunotherapies; and conduct an innovation trajectory towards societal acceptance. The proposed breast tumor-on-chip comprises a 3D-multicellular culture of breast tumor, innate immune cells, cancer- associated fibroblasts, and a vasculature, in a tunable (animal-free) hydrogel matrix equipped with sensors to map in 3D important microenvironmental parameters (pH, oxygen and stiffness). The model will be applied to evaluate therapeutic efficacy for antibody- and virus-based immunotherapies, in comparison to healthy breast tissue for tolerability studies.
Working packages (WP)
About the partners
Outreach
Do you want to know more about the importance of tumor microenvironment and tumor on chip technologies? Check this interactive website: https://toc-tme-amber.netlify.app/.
Funding
This project with file number KICH1.ST04.22.015 of the research programme KIC - MISSION Emerging Key Enabling Technologies is financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Applied Microfluidics for BioEngineering Research | Chip Technology | Chip techology | Health