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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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The Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience welcomes Dr. Dietmar Hutmacher, professor of mechanical engineering at Queensland University of Technology, on "Biomaterials Offer Cancer Research the Third Dimension" as part of IBB's special seminar series.
Abstract:
Studies in standard cell culture have produced many results to help us to interpret complex biological phenomena and hypotheses. However, from an anatomical and physiological point of view, cancer cells cultured in 3D are characterized by several factors differentiating them from monolayer cultures and paralleling much more closely those of in vivo tumors. In particular, early events of tumor growth before effective vascularisation appear to be closely reproduced in those 3D culture systems. Usually, 3D cultures of tumor cells develop hollow cores that resemble the necrotic areas of in vivo cancers: areas that are usually observed at a distance from nutrient and oxygen supplies. Importantly, the proliferation of tumor cells cultured in 3D is typically slower and hence more physiological than that of monolayer cultures.
