BME Speaker Series:Dr. Hossein Tavana, Assistant Professor, University of Akron

Dr. Tavana will present "High Throughput Microtechnologies for Cancer Research"

High Throughput Microtechnologies for Cancer Research

Metastatic disease is the primary cause of mortality of cancer patients. A major roadblock to efficient treatment of metastatic cancers is technological limitations to speed up discovery of novel chemotherapeutics that inhibit tumor cell malignancy. This talk will present our recent advances in engineering high throughput technologies to expedite compound screening against two malignant cell phenotypes: migration and viability. We have pioneered a polymeric aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) to robotically micropattern consistent size migration niches in standard microplates and enable compound screening to identify those with anti-migratory properties. Recent screening of a small library of naturally-derived phytochemicals against metastatic triple negative breast cancer cells led to two compounds that block cell motility and downregulate DNA-damaging intracellular reactive oxygen species in cancer cells. In addition, we have developed and optimized a novel approach to generate 3D solid tumor models in standard high throughput microplates. This robotically operated technology allows evaluating drug efficacy against viability and growth of cancer cells in a physiologic 3D microenvironment. Significant differences in dose-response of skin cancer cells to conventional drugs are observed compared to widely-used 2D assays. Interestingly and despite exhibiting a dose-dependent response to a clinically used drug in 2D cultures, triple negative breast cancer cells become insensitive to the drug in a 3D environment, which may explain treatment failures in some patients. These microtechnologies will expedite drug development and discovery against metastatic cancers.

Biography:

Dr. Tavana received his PhD from University of Toronto in 2006 and completed a postdoctoral training at University of Michigan in 2010. He then joined The University of Akron as a faculty of Biomedical Engineering. His main research interest is development of novel cell-based assay technologies for cancer research and stem cell research. He has published over 30 original and review articles and filed 4 US patent applications. Dr. Tavana’s research is supported by grants from NIH, NSF, and Ohio Third Frontier.