What a complicated world we live in.
As the nation adjusts to a new President and industries of all kinds wonder how they will fit into what appears to be a shift in some economic, environmental, and research platforms, the medical research industry also wonders what their role will be. As state colleges and private universities anxiously await the news of budget shortfalls and cuts, many researchers wonder if they will continue to have the funding and the staff for their projects. Unique and cutting edge field like 3D cell culture matrix platforms know the value of their work, but fear that the larger world does not.
In a time when most researchers would rather be in the lab continuing their research, some developers find themselves explaining and justifying their projects. And while tumor growth data and cancer stem cell biology is at the center of some of the most important research that is going on in this country, as more and more states threaten to close down the very locations that provide access to some of the needed stem cells, 3d cell culture matrix researchers find themselves in a scary time.
Some of the earliest 3D cell culture matrix studies in the 1908s began highlighting the importance of being able to work in the 3D environment, but few people know of this technology. Although this work highlights ability of cultures to grow in a 3D environment, the research is not something that is easy to explain. These researchers, however, use these 3d platforms to help them observe and document how a number of multi cellular structures grow in both cancerous and healthy tissues like the breast. Being able to predict growth and track its process allows doctors to better treat a cancer that has taken the lives of many in the past.
When these same cellular structures have been able to be investigated in vitro, the models of disease can then be used to evaluate how pharmaceutical compounds can cellular responses to new kinds of pharmaceutical compounds.
In today’s most used research methods scientists employ a number of culturing tools to help facilitate 3D platforms that provide far more detail and data than the previous two dimensional work.
Taking the time to look at some of the latest statistics should be enough to validate the need for the continuation of this kind of research:
- 68% of Americans indicate that they support embryonic stem cell research.
- Bone marrow transplants have been using stem cells to treat conditions like leukemia for more than 50 years.
- 64% of Americans indicate that they support federal funding of research on chronic diseases using stem cells taken from human embryos.
- 39.6% of women and men will receive a cancer diagnosis at some point during their lifetimes.
- 14.5 million people lived beyond a cancer diagnosis in the year 2014. This number is expected to rise to almost 19 million by the year 2024.
