OssiGel: The personalized modeling of bone-developing cancers.
OssiGel offers the formation of patient mini-bones in mice. Those mini-bones are constituted of the patient's own cells, providing the ideal autologous micro-environment for the engraftment of corresponding cancer cells. The technology thus provides an individualized platform to study blood cancers, but also solid tumors ultimately metastasizing to bones.
OssiGel is a custom extracellular matrix to be mixed with patient-derived cells. Upon subcutaneous injection, up to 6 mini-bones can be formed per animal. The resulting mini-bones display remarkable structural and compositional features, comparable to the native patient bone tissue. The method is robust, fast and cost-effective. By mimicking the patient bone-developing cancer condtion, OssiGel will prompt the identification and testing of therapeutics in a personalized fashion. OssiGel bears high relevance for R&D and drug discovery research as a precision medicine platform.
