Complex tissue research increasingly relies on advanced 3D cell cultures to accurately replicate physiologically relevant structures. These methods have become pivotal in modern ex-vivo and in-vitro studies, offering scalable and efficient alternatives to whole-organism studies for drug screening, developmental studies, and understanding of host-pathogen interactions. The PhD topic is about development of a high-throughput technology for generation of 3D tissue cultures and its use for studying cell-cell interactions and function. By expanding single cells into 3D organoids, and doing so with tens of thousands of single-cells in parallel, we will be able to observe the growth and response of individual clones, at a scale and resolution that has not been possible to-date. We will isolate individual cells into microcapsules and will follow their spatiotemporal dynamics overtime. Changing the composition of extracellular matrix proteins, the polarity of cells can be investigated under different cell crowding, substrate composition, stiffness, etc., conditions. We will develop functional assays to investigate cells response (e.g. cytokine production) to external stimuli (e.g. presence of cancer antigens) and will seek to understand the biological mechanisms driving selective cancer recognition. The PhD student will work in a trully multidisciplinary field, will gain experience in cutting edge technologies and will acquire qualities that will be broadly applicable to various academic and industrial disciplines.
Mokslinis vadovas / Supervisor: Prof. Linas Mažutis
Kontaktai / Contacts:
tel. / phone: +370 693 19333
Programme: Biochemistry N 004.
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