About us

Objectives and tasks

The goal of the laboratory as a research organization is to develop and test a new method of personalized therapy for cancer patients, which includes establishment of a three-dimensional culture of tumor organoids in laboratory conditions, followed by a personalized test of chemotherapeutic and targeted drugs to determine the most effective therapy for each specific patient. The main scientific result of this study will be identification of new molecular mechanisms that determine the development of tumors. In particular, special attention will be paid to the study of the metastasis and resistance to therapy.

First of all, three-dimensional cultures of tumor organoids will be established and characterized, using both model tumor cell lines and tumor tissue from patients (breast cancer, colorectal cancer, etc.). By optimizing the conditions of cultivation, the efficiency of obtaining such cultures will be significantly increased. An important task of the laboratory is to create the first biobank of tumor organoids from clinical tumors of various origins.

Further, using the created biobank, the effect of both individual chemotherapeutic drugs and their combinations on tumor cells will be investigated. The combination of molecular profiling (genome, transcriptome, proteome) of the obtained organoids and the drug test will reveal new tumor biomarkers that determine the sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapy and targeted therapy. The solution of this problem in the future will expand the range of anticancer drugs used in particular cancer types.

The role of individual proteins at different stages of metastasis, including invasion and adhesion, will also be studied. Confirmation of the role of individual molecules will be carried out using methods of genetic modification of cells, followed by functional tests.