MCP Faculty and Recent Grad Help Develop Novel Chemosensitivity and Resistance Assay

A interdisplinary team of UW-Madison researchers – including MCP faculty members Shigeki Miyamoto and David Beebe, as well as MCP alumnus Chorom Pak – recently developed an innovative model for the study of multiple myeloma tumors. The ex-vivo (outside the patient) model of the patient tumor microenvironment, MicroC(3), aims to allow scientists to test therapies on patient tumor cells being grown in culture. MicroC(3) was developed to test chemosensitivity and resistance of patient tumor cells. By first testing chemotherapy on patient cells ex-vivo, scientists and clinicians can better direct therapies to the patient’s specific tumor phenotype. This new assay will hopefully lead to the development of more effective and patient-specific treatment of multiple myeloma. Pak, who graduated with a PhD from the UW Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Program in 2013, is the first author on the paper, published this June in Integrative Biology. Read the paper here and the full UW News Story here.