There is a growing conviction that animal models are almost meaningless because treatments and apparent ‘cures’ for induced cancers in animals have not been effective in humans.

Accurate, predictive models using human cells and tissues are needed, and that is where the Quasi Vivo^® system can help. The following features of the system are highly relevant to cancer research:

• Ability to cultivate cells and tissues, either healthy or diseased, over periods greater than 28 days.
• Flow of media over cultures in a way that stimulates the cells in a physiologically relevant way and allows the detachment of metastasis from tumours to be observed.
• Control of oxygen tension to simulate conditions both at surface and in the necrotic depths of tumours.
• Ability to run more experiments from small samples of human donor tissue.

If you want to find out more about how Quasi Vivo^® is being used in Cancer Research, then please contact our application specialists at expert@kirkstall.org. They will put you in touch with other users of our system through the Quasi Vivo^®user group, and can assist you with the design of more predictive experiments.

Quasi Vivo^® is compatible with a wide range of commercially available scaffolds for those who want to study adherent cells in a tissue-like environment.

The QV600 chamber with Transwell^® and other standard inserts provides a way to culture and observe tumour spheroids or other non-adherent cell types.