CLIMB TRD-1 PI, Director of the Cancer Center at Illinois, and Grainger Distinguished Chair in the Department of Bioengineering, Professor Rohit Bharghava, and Professor Bill King, Ralph A. Anderson Endowed Chair and professor in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, will co-lead a $21 million ARPA-H project to develop a radically new platform to manufacture tumor models and dramatically expand their availability for both medical research and personalized medicine. The project aims to create a new manufacturing technology that utilizes AI, robotics, and vision systems to monitor and control the growth of tumor models.
While most tumor models are two-dimensional cultures grown on flat surfaces, three-dimensional models, grown in a gel medium, are considered superior since they more closely resemble the behavior of cancer in humans. Unfortunately, such 3D models are difficult to grow and only available for some cancers. The project’s team will create an automated production platform that can quickly manufacture these 3D models and use advanced imaging technology to monitor the growth. Meanwhile, AI will interpret the images and use the information to intelligently direct the tumor model growth conditions. This system is expected to provide consistent and repeatable production of 3D tumor models of any cancer type, with widespread implications of better and more comprehensive understanding and treatment across many cancer types.
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