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

UTwente | Le Gac’s lab: Applied Microfluidics for Bioengineering Research (AMBER)

Prof. Le Gac is chairing the Applied Microfluidics for Bioengineering Research group at the UT and has over 20 years’ experience in microfluidics and organ-on-chip technologies. She develops, with her team, innovative miniaturized devices for cancer research and reproductive medicine, and to evaluate the impact of plastics on human health. She has ample experience with industrial collaborations (e.g., OTP-NWO, TKI-LSH Health-Holland, Merck Serono, Hitachi), and technology transfer. She is the consortium coordinator and the main responsible for WP2. Within SMART-ToC, her team will develop the microfluidic platform, optimize cell patterning to create a vascularized tumor model, and conduct first-stage drug testing using chemotherapeutics.

Ali Al-Jaberi (PhD candidate) is a biomedical engineer with a background in Biotechnology for Health and Health Engineering from the University of Grenoble Alpes. During his Master's thesis, he participated in developing a vascularized renal proximal tubule-on-a-chip platform. His role in SMART-ToC is to develop a vascularized breast tumor model comprising a triple co-culture of breast cancer cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and immune cells in tunable sensing matrices, and to validate the model for chemotherapy and immunotherapy applications.

Link: https://www.utwente.nl/en/eemcs/amber/ 

UTwente | Paez lab

Dr. Paez is Associate Professor at the Developmental Bioengineering Group of the BioEngineering Technologies department at the UT and has expertise in synthetic macromolecular and biomaterials chemistry as well as soft matter applied to biomedicine. She started her independent career in 2019 as a Project Leader at INM—Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Germany and then joined the UT in 2021 as a tenure tracker. She has experience in collaborative projects with industry and in transfer of technology. She is the consortium co-coordinator and the main responsible for WP1. Within SMART-ToC, her team will develop the sensing hydrogel matrix with modulable properties to embed the tumor cells.

Link: https://www.utwente.nl/en/tnw/dbe/research/paez_lab/ 

UniFri | Ruggi Group 

Dr. Ruggi is Senior Lecturer (Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche) at the University of Fribourg (CH). He has extensive experience in photochemistry, including the design, synthesis, and photochemical evaluation of different classes of organic and inorganic compounds. He brings his expertise to WP1, developing the molecular sensors for oxygen and pH monitoring to functionalize the hydrogel matrices where the tumor will be embedded. 

Link: https://www.unifr.ch/chem/en/research/groups/ruggi/ 

RadboudUMC | Verdurmen Lab 

Dr. Verdurmen obtained his PhD cum laude at the Dept. of Biochemistry and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Medical BioSciences, both at Radboudumc. After receiving a Rubicon grant (2012) to support his postdoctoral stay at the University of Zurich (CH), he received a prestigious Veni grant in 2015. Since 2016, with his group, he has been studying the efficacy of novel therapies and drug delivery mechanisms and kinetics in various models including (immunocompetent) OoC systems. His group’s work focusses on engineered antibodies and adenoviral therapies in application areas involving cancer, endometriosis, and fibrosis. He is the main responsible for WP2.  Within SMART-ToC, his team will test novel immunotherapies and validate the SMART-ToC device as screening device.