Towards a Tumor-Lymph Node-on Chip platform: M18 meeting and first successful review of Tumor-LN-oC

Lung cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in Europe and the main cause of cancer death in men (2nd in women). Understanding whether and to which degree the cancer has metastasised to the lymph modes is key to correctly staging the cancer and for determining adequate treatment. But the connection and interactions between tumor cells and lymph node tissue is still not well understood. EU-funded project Tumor-LN-oC aims to fill this niche by developing a unique tumor-lymph node on chip-platform which can be used to study lymph node metastasis in an individual patient (personalised medicine) as well as research the effect of drugs on this process (drug discovery).

To do so, the project utilises a wide selection of tools ranging from cell and tissueengineering to laser bioprinting, MIP spectroscopy and a software for automatic image analysis. All of these technologies will be integrated in an automated system which can be interfaced with standard lab equipment. 

From 16-18 November, AMIRES travelled to Greece to meet representatives from all 11 partner organisation for the project M18 project meeting to present and discuss progress and challenges of the activities, and to find common approaches to individual and shared obstacles.Overall, partners are making promising advances in the development of their individual technological modules, and the integration into a consolidated organ-on-chip combined platform is starting to be in reach.

The 2-day internal meeting was followed by the review meeting where partners presented results and achievements of the first 18 months of Tumor-LN-oC to HaDEA, the EU funding agency, and the appointed external expert. The project received good feedback from the reviewers, as well as many useful comments and valuable recommendations that will be taken into account during future months. 

The interdisciplinary consortium which unites partners with a background in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science and machine learning and much more has proven to be well equipped to meet the ambitious objectives of the project. AMIRES leads the project management, dissemination and commercialisation work of Tumor-LN-oC, all of which are key for smooth implementation and exploitation of the project, thus creating and amplifying the desired impact. Tumor-LN-oC is also the first Horizon lump sum project in AMIRES portfolio giving us valuable experience with this type of project, which will become much more prevalent in coming years.