“We can be more precise and accurate than we’ve been. And eventually, better understand some of the mechanisms that drive the complex human tumor microenvironment (TME) interactions and how to guide treatment,” said Frederic Zenhausern, Ph.D., MBA, senior author of the paper, a senior scientist at HonorHealth Research Institute, and professor and director of the Center for Applied NanoBioscience and Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix.

“Studying complex human responses … requires advanced in vitro (laboratory) systems,” according to the paper. “Here, we present the Apparatus to Simulate Tumor Environment and Reproduce Organs in an Interactive and Dynamic System (ASTEROIDS), which integrates three-dimensional cell culture with organ-on-chip technology. These results demonstrate that ASTEROIDS faithfully reproduces TME-level organization and responses, establishing its feasibility as a pre-clinical human model.”