Nastaran Barin has developed a promising tool for studying brain cancer mechanobiology

Understanding the mechanobiology of glioma cells is of paramount importance for prospective treatment screening of this brain tumour. In a joint effort with Erasmus MC, Nastaran Barin and Angelo Accardo, researchers of the Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering, have developed biomimetic 3D structures via two-photon polymerisation and cultured therein patient-derived glioma cells. These 3D-engineered glioma scaffolds represent a promising tool for studying brain cancer mechanobiology as well as for drug screening studies. Their results have been published in the journal Small. In addition, their work is featured on the front cover of the journal.

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Nastaran Barin: “A major advantage of the scaffolds is enabling the study and detection of subcellular structures (such as microtubes and endosomes) of individual cells within a connected cellular network. This makes the scaffolds a suitable culture model for glioma biological studies.”

Angelo Accardo: “Compared to conventional 2D cell cultures, the 3D-engineered scaffolds more closely resembled in vivo glioma cellular features, allowed better monitoring of individual cells, cellular protrusions (micro tubes), as well as intracellular trafficking. The developed structures also increased the stability of the cellular network and enabled less random cell motility. This is a great result which paves the way for the use of physiologically relevant engineered in-vitro 3D models in the fight against brain tumours.”