Thesis Project Form

It is well known that metastases play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of cancer, nevertheless many aspects of these processes are still unclear. So far, studies related to the metastatic insurgence are mostly carried out by using static in vitro culture or in vivo animal models, which only distantly resemble the real human environment.

The goal of this work is fabricate and validate a 3D fluidic model (bioreactor) of spontaneous breast cancer metastasis as potential in vitro drug screening platform.
The student will work on the design and realization of a multi-chamber device fabricated through 3D printing technology. Fluidic tests will be performed to validate the final system.
The work will be constituted by a major experimental part (3D printing, optical microscopy, fluorescence confocal microscopy, CFD) and consequent images post-production and data analysis.

• 3D printing
• CFD
• Optical microscopy
• Fluorescence confocal microscopy
• Cell culture
• Hydrogel processing
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