Lectures and seminars Crossing Borders webinar – "Tissue models for drug development by capture of cells in a spider web”

To be able to replace animal trials for drug development, it is necessary to have in vitro models of human tissue that are physiologically relevant. In the human body, cells are supported by a fibrous network called the extracellular matrix (ECM). Traditionally, human cells are cultured on flat and hard culture ware in the lab. Increasing evidence shows that cells require a 3D environment that mimics the ECM network in order to form physiologically relevant tissue.

We have developed a method to utilise the unique properties of spider silk to construct a 3D network mimicking the ECM in tissue. A partial spider silk protein is produced using recombinant technology and engineered to contain a cell binding motif from fibronectin in native ECM. This biologically functionalized silk protein, BioSilk, has the unique silk property to self-assemble into a strong and elastic network of the same very fine dimensions as the ECM network. Thereby, BioSilk can be used to construct physiologically relevant models of for example skin and pancreatic islets. Moreover, a method for facile and high-throughput formation of tumor models for anti-cancer drug development and personalized drug screening is being developed.

The webinar will be held online via Zoom.

Register to the webinar here.
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