Provided are methods for culturing a cancer stem cell-derived tissue, which comprise the step of three-dimensionally culturing a cancer stem cell-derived tissue after treating it with a therapeutic agent for diseases. The culture methods of the present disclosure enable the construction of cell clusters analogous to therapeutic agent-resistant tissues which are characteristically seen in tissues of patients who have actually been administered with a therapeutic agent for diseases. The cell clusters of the present disclosure are useful for elucidating the mechanism for acquiring anticancer agent resistance, identifying a therapeutic target therefor, or screening for a therapeutic agent. The preferred disease in the present disclosure is cancer.

Methods and compositions for simulating a dermal compartment of skin are disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, methods of producing such a skin model include the steps of admixing a collagenous protein source, a blood protein source, and dermal cells in an aqueous carrier, and then allowing the resulting mixture to solidify to produce a gel. In one technique, at least a portion of the mixture, e.g., the collagenous protein source is first heated and then cooled to induce gelation. For example, the mixture can be heated to at least 50 degrees C. and then cooled to temperature below 5 degrees C. to induce gelation.

Pluripotent stem cell-derived 3D retinal organoid compositions and methods of making using the same are disclosed.

A premature infant skin model and methods of creating the same are disclosed. One method of creating a three-dimensional premature infant skin model can include providing neonatal skin cells, exposing the neonatal skin cells to a treatment solution including interleukin-6 for a treatment period; and removing the treatment solution from the neonatal skin cells after the treatment period to provide the three-dimensional premature infant skin model.

Methods for mimicking a tumor microenvironment in vitro are provided. The methods comprise indirectly applying a shear stress upon at least one tumor cell type plated on a surface within a cell culture container. Methods for mimicking tumor metastasis and methods for testing drugs or compounds in such systems are also provided.

A 3D decellularized bone scaffold seeded with cancer cells, such as prostate cancer cells or Ewing's sarcoma is provided. The three-dimensional includes Ewing's sarcoma (ES) tumor cells; and an engineered human bone scaffold. The engineered human bone scaffold further includes osteoblasts that secrete substance of the human bone, and osteoclasts that absorb bone tissue during growth and healing. The engineered human bone scaffold includes the tissue engineered three-dimensional model which recapitulates the osteolytic process. The engineered human bone scaffold is engineered by co-culturing of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The osteoblast is produced by cell differentiation process from mesenchymal stem cells. The osteoclast is produced by cell differentiation from human monocytes, wherein the human monocytes are isolated from buffy coats. The scaffold can be used with cancer cell lines to identify therapeutic targets to slow, stop, and reverse tumor growth and progression as well as to predict the efficacy of potential therapeutics.

Disclosed are digitized organoids comprising a detectable sensor, such as, for example, a Radio frequency identification (RFID) based sensor. Further disclosed are methods for making the digitized organoids. The disclosed methods allow for self-assembly mediated incorporation of ultracompact RFID sensors into organoids. Methods of using the digitized organoids are also disclosed.

A method for determining the presence and level of PSC contaminants in a PSC-derived cell population for use in cell therapy by assaying a sample of the PSC-derived cell population against a panel of non-coding RNAs such as miRNA known to be differentially expressed in PSC contaminants, thereby detecting residual PSC cell contamination at a level of 10 and even 5 or fewer residual contaminating PSC cells in a background of one million cells, such that a PSC-derived cell population or sample may be identified as meeting safety requirements for use in cell therapy.

Hybrid hydrogels comprised of decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) and biocompatible conductive nanomaterials are disclosed. The hybrid hydrogels provide a more instructive microenvironment for proper cell and tissue development. The mechanical and electrical properties of the hydrogels can be tuned. The hydrogels can be used in bioinks for printing tissues in a high-throughput manner, and engineered tissues generated using the hybrid hydrogels can be utilized to assess biological activity of drug candidates.

Cell-free scaffolds derived from tumors in patients are used as in vitro cancer models and also provide information of the tumor, from which it is derived, including its susceptibility to cancer treatment. The cell-free scaffolds are also used as a predictive tool in assessing cancer treatment efficacy and in identifying immunotargets and biomarkers for cancer therapy.