Studying cancer isn鈥檛 easy. Mouse models are expensive, biopsies can be inexact, and human cancer patients are (thankfully) in limited supply. So how can researchers make effective and efficient progress? The technology known as 鈥渙rganoids鈥� is one promising answer.
Organoids are spheres of cells cultured from the tumors of cancer patients. They鈥檙e what experts call a 鈥�3D culture system,鈥� and are devoid of factors that may otherwise contaminate important experiments.
The NCI-designated Cancer Center at 黑料吃瓜资源 (CSHL) has pioneered the use of organoids, confident that this technology can further efforts to understand cancers. Now, David Tuveson, M.D. Ph.D., Director of the CSHL center and Chief Scientist for the , and Hans Clevers, Ph.D. of the Hubrecht Institute, are sharing what they have learned about this technology in a comprehensive review for the journal Science.
鈥淭he prospect that this approach will have a positive impact for basic cancer research and clinical advance,鈥� the experts conclude, 鈥渋s palpable.鈥�
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