Researchers are searching for tools more effective than mice to investigate cancer.
Researchers at the University of Arizona plan to merge engineering and medicine in the ongoing fight against cancer.
A program, backed by a $10.8 million award from the state's New Economy Initiative, involves finding out how cancer cells respond to imaging methods, drugs, and blood flow conditions.
U of A BIO-5 Institute director Jennifer Barton suggests using 3D models brings cancer researchers closer to the realities of how and where cancers grow.
"The cancer engineering initiative is a great way to bring together the technology and the insights that engineers bring to a really tough problem in medicine that we've been trying to solve for decades," she said.
Barton notes current cancer-fighting drugs and therapies are developed in labs or through experiments with mice but are not tailored for human patients. Researchers believe 3-D printed environments can help engineers develop precision cancer treatments.
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