The Mondrinos lab specializes in the development of organ chip technologies and micro physiological systems (MPS) for modeling human pathophysiology, with an emphasis on advanced cancer pathophysiology. We are also working to develop systems and methods for sex-specific culture models and MPS that account for hormone status, including in our cancer models. We have published two manuscripts on bioengineered models of cancer: 1) a model of dense tumor stroma, and 2) a model of tumor angiogenesis used to determine anti-angiogenic phytochemical effects. In addition, we have developed organ chip models of cancer with perfusable bulk vasculature that were used to model vascular anastomosis, cancer-associated inflammation, and premetastatic niche cultivation. These systems and methods are contained in a manuscript that has undergone extensive revision and is still currently under peer review. Engineering models of the drug-resistant tumor microenvironment (TME) is another important area of focus, with a manuscript in preparation that characterizes TME features associated with acquired cisplatin resistance in non-small lung cancer cells selected for by exposure in culture. Previously, I developed a microphysiological model of lung cancer cachexia that demonstrated tumor-derived factors from engineered drug-resistant lung carcinoma tissues induce inflammatory and oxidative injury in engineered skeletal muscle tissues. Collectively, these model systems comprise the basis of our Idea Develop Award funded by the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program, titled: “Toward body-on-a-chip models of sex-specific lung cancer pathophysiology”
