3D Models: Advancing on the Study of Non-Communicable Diseases

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editors

Ana Rita Carlos

University of Lisbon, Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environment Changes (cE3c), Faculty of Sciences

Dr. Rita Carlos obtained her PhD at University of Oxford, UK, in Dr. Madalena Tarsounas laboratory, studying the role of DNA damage responses in maintaining genomic stability and preventing tumorigenesis. Upon completion of her PhD in 2013, she joined Dr. Miguel Soares laboratory at Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência (IGC), Portugal. As a postdoctoral researcher at Soares laboratory, she addressed how regulation of iron-heme metabolism mediated by ferritin impacts on glucose metabolism and establishes disease tolerance to different types of infection. Currently, she is a Research Fellow in Dr. Solveig Thorsteinsdottir laboratory, at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3C), Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (FCUL), where she is dissecting how oxidative stress and DNA damage impact on the pathology of different diseases, particularly muscular dystrophy and cancer, by employing in vitro and in vivo strategies.

Catarina Brito

Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB-NOVA, iBET, Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica and Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier

Dr. Catarina Brito pursued her PhD from the Laboratory of Glycobiology (ITQB), Portugal, and during this period she had also the opportunity to be a visiting PhD student, at the Membrane Traffic in Neuronal & Epithelial Morphogenesis Laboratory, Institut Jacques Monod, France. After her postdoctoral work at the Animal Cell Technology Unit, iBET, Portugal, she became Head of the Bioassay Development Team, Cell Bioprocesses Laboratory, Animal Cell Technology Unit, iBET and ITQB‐UNL, Portugal in 2009 and since 2014 she is the Head of the Advanced Cell Models Laboratory, Animal Cell Technology Unit, iBET and ITQB‐NOVA, Portugal. Her main research interests are mostly translational and focused on development of advanced human cell models (employing induced pluripotent stem cells and other patient‐derived cells) to study deregulation of cellular microenvironment in disease progression and evaluate its role in therapeutic response. Key areas of interest include the role of the innate immune microenvironment in cancer, neurological disorders, and in response to immunotherapies and gene therapies.

Collection Overview

In vitro cell culture models have been widely used to investigate disease mechanisms and therapeutic approaches. Two-dimensional (2D) models, where cells grow in a monolayer, are the simplest in vitro strategies to tackle these questions and they have the advantage of being amendable. However, they lack the important three-dimensional (3D) organization, present in the tissues and organs, and therefore the need for improved 3D models is becoming more and more important.

This Methods Collection aims at highlighting the latest methodologies in 3D cell culture models, which allow to study non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, autoimmunity, neurodegenerative diseases, or muscle-related disorders. These models should allow to explore the mechanisms that lead to disease with a particular focus on: