3D chips assess drug viability

摘要

Scientists in Germany have developed a new 3D chip for the rapid and cheap assessment of potential anticancer drugs. Andrea Robitzki and colleagues at the University of Leipzig have made a chip for the ultrafast characterisation of both 3D tissue samples, and for screening compounds to assess their anticancer activity. 3D multicellular cultures are commonly used to mimic in vivo conditions in tumours, as single cell assays do not give sufficiently realistic responses to anticancer drugs. However, to date screening devices for these 3D cultures are not advanced enough to become commercially available.