Designer matrices for bioprinting 3D tumour models for drug testing

"This PhD project will explore the unique opportunities that 3D bioprinting offers to recreate the complex environment of human tumours in terms of the positioning and density of extracellular matrices and distinct populations of cancer and stromal cells.
Objective 1: To identify optimal matrices can be processed using extrusion 3D bioprinting technologies as well as elicit a desirable response from relevant cells upon encapsulation, including proliferation, self-organisation and adapted drug sensitivities. The matrices investigated will range from off-the-shelf to synthesised in-house, and from highly bioactive naturally derived (e.g. Matrigel) to bioinert templates decorated with relevant biological modalities.
Objective 2: To develop, improve and validate biofabrication technologies using selected matrices, allowing unprecedented 3D control over the non-uniform positioning of cells and matrices within tumour constructs.
Objective 3: To demonstrate the suitability of 3D printed tumour constructs in drug testing alongside 2D and 3D cultured alternatives."