Three dimensional spheroidal cell bioreactors for multiplexed cancer drug testing

In vitro drug testing utilizing live cancer cell cultures has enormous potential in drug discovery and personalized medicine. Cancer grows as heterogeneous three dimensional clusters in vivo. As a result, traditional two dimensional cancer cell layer cultures are not physiologically representative of their in vivo growth. To provide better process control and more physiologically realistic cancer cell cultures, a modified hanging drop culture plate was designed. The culture plate allows three dimensional cancer cell spheroids to be cultivated and accurately placed over the working electrodes of multiplexed biosensor arrays. The results of this study are expected to demonstrate the formation of consistently sized cancer cell spheroids with proper positioning over working electrodes. Impedance measurements from biosensor arrays on 96-well plates will be obtained and compared to two dimensional cultures to demonstrate the utility of the hanging drop plate.