M24 Meeting – Already 2 years into the project!

Last week, our consortium gathered in Turku, Finland for the Tumor-LN-oC M24 project meeting, hosted by Åbo Akademi University in the oldest city in Finland!

The meeting brought together a team of passionate researchers and innovators who are working towards developing a tumor-lymph node-on chip organ on chip platform. The meeting was an opportunity for the project team to discuss progress and challenges faced in the last 6 months, and share their insights on how to integrate individual technological modules into the platform. This brings us one step closer to revolutionizing cancer research and providing unique new tools for the intended application areas of the platform in metastasis diagnosis, drug development and personalised medicine.

The discussions centered around the different technological modules that are essential to the development of the platform, including

• Cell biology,
• Microfluidics,
• Mid-IR Photothermal spectroscropy,
• Micro-optics,
• automatic image analysis via deep learning algorithms
• laser bio printing.

Each of these modules plays a critical role in the functioning of the organ on chip platform and delivering upon the project objectives. In the previous 2 years, the team has worked hard to develop and optimise these modules independently. Now, the focus shifts towards planning and executing the seamless integration of these technologies into the platform with the key objective to keep it user-friendly despite its complexity.

The consortium is also starting to look ahead to the planned validation of the tumor-lymph node-on chip organ on chip platform with real patient samples. This will be a critical step in demonstrating the efficacy of the technology and its potential for future research and/or clinical use since the system must be rigorously tested and validated before it can be brought to the market. By working with real lung cancer patient samples from a partner hospital in Athens, the team will be able to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the platform, as well as identify any potential areas for improvement. This validation process throughout the second half of the project is thus an important phase in the development of the technology and an essential milestone towards making a real impact on the lives of cancer patients.

The team also discussed the potential applications of the platform and the ways in which it could be used to research and improve understanding of cancer and LN metastasis as well as the effect of drugs on this process. With the Tumor-LN-oC organ on chip platform, researchers will have the ability to study the interaction between tumor cells and the lymphatic system in a more realistic and accurate way than was ever possible before. This technology has the potential to accelerate the discovery of new treatments and therapies for cancer patients. As we move forward with the development of the tumor-lymph node-on chip organ on chip platform, we are excited about the potential of this technology and the impact it could have on cancer research.

The success of this meeting and project as a whole would not have been possible without the dedication and cooperation of our partners and team members. We would like to thank each and every one of them for their contribution to the project, their support and active participation which are instrumental in making the project a success. Thank you to Abo Akademi University for hosting us in Turku and providing us with an ideal setting for productive discussions and collaboration. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with our partners and exploring new ways to enhance this groundbreaking technology!