Using Microarrays to Interrogate Microenvironmental Impact on Cellular Phenotypes in Cancer

Studying the tumor microenvironment is difficult due to its complexity. We've developed microenvironment microarrays consisting of simple combinatorial microenvironments that allow the identification of major drivers of tumor cell phenotypes. The major advantage of the MEMA platform is that because the microenvironment conditions are all defined, it is straightforward to identify microenvironment factors that drive phenotypes of interest.

The MEMA platform is widely applicable in other non-cancer systems, including primary cell strains and stem cells. There are a number of engineering tricks and steps that we have developed to speed the wet bench work and simplify the protocol. To begin, use a touch pin printer to print extracellular matrix print mixture in fiducial spots into eight-well plates.