Micro- and nanofluidic systems in cancer research


21 Sept.			14:00 - 15:30



HEALTH & NANOMEDICINE
NANOMEDICINE
TT.VII - Technical Multi-Track with Parallel SYMPOSIA
Micro- and nanofluidic systems in cancer research
Co-organized with ISS - OMM, National Research Council, University of Salento, University Polyclinic Foundation "A. Gemelli" IRCCS, React4Life Chair: Fabrizio MATTEI, ISS
Considerable efforts have been recently devoted to the development of advanced microand nanosystems for studying cellular functions. High throughput analysis, reduction and characterization of cell population heterogeneity, reproducibility and well-defined cell culture conditions make these systems very attractive for a wide range of applications ranging from biomedical research and drug discovery to toxicology, stem cell research and therapy. In this regard, cancer research is being enormously benefit from micro- and nanosystems-based platforms, and much effort is now being focused towards Organ-on-Chip (OOC) models. These systems very effectively recapitulate in vivo function of the tumor microenvironment and connections with the immune system. In this context, OOCs have now emerged as innovative tools for better studying the effects of various cancer-related drugs on humans. Besed on these premises, in this session we will propose different presentations associated to the employment of OOC platforms in the investigations on several specific topics related to cancer research.The importance of OOCs in elucidating the role of heterogeneous cell subsets composing the tumor microenvironment and the role of multi-organ systems to investigate immune system versus tumor microenvironment crosstalk will be outlined.Moreover, the usefulness of biosensors as potential biotools coupled to OOCs and Lab-on-Chip platforms to study specific molecules as well as the importance of mid-infrared nanostructures for the isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles released by cells will be exposed.

TT.VII.C.1	Adele DE NINNO - CV Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies - National Research Council Organs-on chips as smart in vitro tools for dissecting heterogeneous cancer models
TT.VII.C.2	Giuseppe MARUCCIO - CV University of Salento Exploiting biosensors to investigate tumors through lab-on-chip and organ-on-chip systems
TT.VII.C.3	Gabriele CIASCA - CV University Polyclinic Foundation "A. Gemelli" - IRCCS Mid-Infrared Resonant Nanostructures for Ultrasensitive Detection and Molecular Characterization of Tumor-derived Extracellular Vesicles
TT.VII.C.4	Silvia SCAGLIONE - CV React4Life, Chief Researcher Officer Multiorgan-on-chip systems to study the complexity of the cell microenvironments