Development & Imaging Unit of Patient Derived 3D Cell Culture Models to test novel Therapeutics and Personalized Treatment Strategies [Part of the Hede-Lab]
Team Unit for 3D-Patient Avatars & Personalized Medicine
Head / Leitung
Advanced Postdocs & Clinician Scientists
Technical Team (partly shared with the Oncologic Laboratory)
Early Career Researcher
(Postdocs, Assistants, Clinician Scientists, PhDs, MDs, Master Students)
Supporting Clinics & Institutes
Clinical Support Team & Scientists (Gynecology)
Supporting Institutes (Institut für Experimentelle Tumorforschung)
Clinical Support Team & Scientists (HNO)
Aims & Vision of the Unit
Our Vision: Patient Avatar 3D-Models & their use for personalized treatment approaches:
We define Patient Avatar 3D-Models as those models that better reflect the patients’ situation than traditional 2D planar monoculture systems. These models are for example: spheroids, organoids, tumoroids, organotypic tissue slices, or organ-on-a-chip systems. In general, those models are known to better reflect the heterogeneity and complexity of patients than simpler cell culture systems. Due to their three-dimensional properties, cell-cell interactions are better reflected, and penetration gradients including the formation of hypoxic zones, as we find them in original tumors, can be mimicked. Importantly, also different cell types i.e. fibroblasts or immune cells can be integrated, allowing also the investigation of immunotherapeutics. Thus, development of Patient Avatar-3D Models, derived from individual patient tumors offer a good strategy for predicting therapy. A brief workflow of our translational approach from the clinic to the laboratory and back is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Simplified workflow from bedside to bench and back: the biomaterial is removed during the operation and taken to the laboratory. Here we expand and characterize the removed cells. We then use these cells for 3D models, e.g. spheroids or organoids, and test the efficacy of various drugs. The information on the effectiveness of drugs in our models is passed on to clinicians and should help to find the most efficient individual treatment strategies in the long term. Partly created with biorender.
If a clinician has a specific question about the best treatment option (e.g. if the patient has had a tumor relapse), the resection material can be brought to the laboratory (provided all other diagnoses have already been performed). In the laboratory, we then characterize the tumor and develop various model systems. These are treated with a range of different therapeutics from our drug panels for functional drug testing. As a long-term goal, this information can be passed on to the clinician to determine the right treatment options.
Tasks of the Unit & our Offer
Our Unit for 3D-Patient Avatars & Personalized Medicine aims to develop 3D culture systems to optimize precision medicine approaches.
In short, our tasks are:
Development of different 3D models including Co-culture models
Generation of novel imaging workflows in collaboration with the SYNENTEC GmbH https://synentec.com
Education & Collaboration
Below you can see how our unit can also support YOUR scientific work. If you would like to make use of our services or have any questions, please contact nina.hedemann@uksh.de
