EXPLORING THE MECHANISM OF COLORECTAL CANCER METASIATSIS AND ITS MICROENVIRONMENT USING HYDROGEL INCORPORTATED BIOMMIMETIC CHIP

In this research, we aim to construct a biomimetic tumor microenvironment (TME) chip platform with incorporation of engineered tissue-like hydrogel structure. This platform utilizes an external circulatory loop which flow within a hollow alginate tube to simulate blood vessel and blood flow. This design could enable studies on physical and biological cues that lead to tumor intravasation, and the platform is composed of a High Throughput Dialysis-Self Assembled Cell Array (HTDS-SACA) chip and a 3D hollow alginate tube. In the setup, an alginate tube would be hanged above a HTDS-SACA chip cultured with cancer cells. Cell migration onto the hanging engineered vessel structure is determined by ATP quantification. Stress, flow rate, and chemical gradients can be manipulated by an outer pump connected to the alginate tube to simulate the conditions of vasculature.