3DBioNet: an integrated technological platform for 3D micro-tissues

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Maybe you have already seen cells under a microscope? Plants, animals and humans are made of cells. For approximately a century, scientists have routinely grown cells on flat transparent surfaces (glass or plastic). Growing cells on flat surfaces is very convenient. In fact, it has been so successful that a lot of what we know about cell components such as the nucleus (which contains the genetic information) and mitonchodria (which provides energy) comes from such experiments; this also includes discovery of drugs and tests of their potential toxicity. However, in real living organisms cells are not attached to a flat surface. Instead, they interact with their three dimensional environment which includes other cells as well as factors secreted by cells. Scientists now realize more and more the importance of this difference between growing cells on a flat surface or growing them in 3D: it modifies their shape, how they communicate with each others and how they respond to changes in their environment. Until recently, animal experiments have been the main alternative to cells grown on flat surfaces. Whilst animal experiments remain essential to our understanding of biology and to the discovery of new drugs, they do not perfectly mimic human biology and it is also desirable to reduce their number for ethical reasons.In the last decade, scientists have started to culture cells in 3D thereby producing micro-tissues, often starting from stem cells. These micro-tissues made of human-derived cells resemble human tissues. But, just like going from 2D printing to 3D printing requires new materials, new software, new ideas and new procedures, going from 2D cell culture to 3D cell culture requires a large number of innovations in the methods, materials and technologies that scientists use to design, perform, analyse and interpret their experiments. The purpose of the 3DbioNet network is to bring together the skills of scientists from many different disciplines within academia and industry needed to identify the stumbling blocks and help building this new way of doing biology.