Group Mates: Mia and Daniel

Primary Source 1: Yu Zhao, Rui Yao, Liliang Ouyang, Hongxu Ding, Ting Zhang, Kaitai Zhang, Shujun Cheng, and Wei Sun. et al. 2014. “Three-dimensional printing of Hela cells for cervical tumor model in vitro,” IOP Science. Biofabrication 6, no 3. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1758-5082/6/3/035001

Wei Sun, along with the other scientists, are based in Drexel University in Philadelphia. Sun, Ph.D. is a chair professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, as well as a distinguished professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. In this article, the scientists discuss a study that they conducted about a method of 3D printing for Hela cells and gelatin/alginate/fibrinogen hydrogels to construct in vitro cervical tumor models. They compared the 3D and 2D results that Hela cells revealed. More aspects of tumor evolution and Hela cells were visible with the 3D model than those in 2D culture. These new biological characteristics from the printed 3D tumor models in vitro, as well as the novel 3D cell printing technology, may help the evolution of 3D cancer study. This article can be used to provide a specific type of cell tested for 3D models. Knowing how different types of cells are treated through 3D modeling gives a broader perspective on the impact of showing tumors through such a technique.

Primary Source 2: Bartlomiej Waclaw, Ivana Bozic, Meredith E. Pittman, Ralph H. Hruban, Bert Vogelstein & Martin A. Nowak. et al. 2015. “A spatial model predicts that dispersal and cell turnover limit intratumour heterogeneity,” Nature 525, pp. 261-264. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14971

The research was led by Martin Nowak, who is the Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics and Professor of Mathematics and Biology at Harvard University, and Bartlomej Waclaw, who is an RSE Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. The scientists describe a new model that was developed for tumor evolution that shows how short-range dispersal and cell turnover can account for rapid cell mixing inside the tumor. Their model not only provides insights into spatial and temporal aspects of tumor growth, but also suggests that targeting short-range cellular migratory activity could have marked effects on tumor growth rates. This article can be used for evidence as to why a new model is necessary to be able to fully detect key aspects of tumors that could not have been previously discovered.

Popular Report: Prigg, Mark. 2015. “Cancer up close: Stunning 3D simulations show tumours growing in treatment breakthrough” Daily Mail, Science online, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3212096/The-beauty-CANCER-Researchers-reveal-stunning-3d-models-tumours-treatment-breakthrough.html

Mark Prigg is a Science and Technology Editor for the Daily Mail. In this article, Prigg discusses the groundbreaking development of the first model of solid tumors that reflects both their three-dimensional shape and genetic evolution. He elaborates and simplifies the findings of the collaboration between Harvard, Edinburgh, and Johns Hopkins Universities, which discovered how a spatial model to study specific characteristic of cancerous tumors that previous models could not detect. He also provides videos demonstrating how the new model works in detecting spatial aspects and any homogeneous patterns. The article can be used to validate the groundbreaking discovery that can help in treating cancer patients around the world, as well as provide insight into a model that we will be creating.