In recent years, biomedical engineering has been centered in the development and improvement of bioprinting systems and, more recently, in microfluidic systems and lab-on-a-chip platforms. The biofabrication of these devices, and the microenvironments that they host, are also favored by the generation of new biomaterials with advanced biological and mechanical properties and bioprinting capabilities. The area of cancer has greatly benefited from these novel advances, both to further analyze the intrinsic biology of tumors and metastases, and to evaluate personalized therapeutic strategies and the potential of new treatments in more realistic and biomimetic environments.
This Special Issue aims to present these novel advances in biofabrication to generate tumor/metastatic/multiorgan-on-a-chip models that integrate a tumor microenvironment (at the cellular and extracellular level) similar to the native tumor. Also, of special interest is the analysis of the functionality of these devices for the approach of therapeutic strategies and the generation of in-silico models.
Biomimetic three-dimensional glioma model printed in vitro for the studies of glioma cells and neurons interactions
Advances of 3D printing in gastroenterology and where it might be going