BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:iCalendar-Ruby
BEGIN:VEVENT
CATEGORIES:PhD Defense
DESCRIPTION:Title: Advancing In Vitro Models of Osteosarcoma: The Impact of
  Scaffold Choice and Bone Niche Cells on Disease Phenotype and Drug Respons
 e\n\nAbstract: Osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare yet aggressive primary bone canc
 er characterized by diverse genomic mutations and a high metastasis rate. D
 espite significant advancements in treatment for many other cancer types\, 
 therapeutic options for OS have remained stagnant for over four decades. A 
 critical barrier to progress is the lack of scalable experimental models th
 at accurately recapitulate OS biology and drug responses in vivo. Tissue-en
 gineered 3D in vitro models offer a promising approach to bridging this gap
 \, yet key challenges remain. First\, previous studies used different bioma
 terials as scaffolds without direct comparison. Second\, previous models ge
 nerally include only the cancer cells. As such\, the impact of scaffold cho
 ice and bone niche cell interactions on OS phenotype and drug responses in 
 3D remains largely unknown. \n\nThis thesis addresses these challenges thro
 ugh two main projects. The first investigates how the choice of scaffold ma
 terials influences OS phenotype and drug response. By systematically compar
 ing four biomaterials commonly used in bone tissue engineering\, we demonst
 rate that scaffold choice significantly affects OS cell proliferation\, ext
 racellular matrix deposition\, and chemoresistance. The second project exam
 ines the impact of interactions with osteoblasts\, a key bone niche cell ty
 pe\, on OS behavior. Our results reveal that co-culturing OS cells with MSC
 -derived osteoblasts in 3D enhances resistance to gemcitabine\, a chemother
 apy used in OS treatment. Ongoing work seeks to further investigate the mec
 hanisms that drive such drug resistance. In summary\, this thesis provides 
 valuable insights into the role of scaffold selection and bone niche cell i
 nteractions in OS biology and drug responses. These findings will help guid
 e the advancement of 3D in vitro OS models with improved physiological rele
 vance for high-throughput drug screening\, ultimately accelerating the disc
 overy of more effective treatments for this devastating disease.\n\nPlease 
 contact Madelyn Bernstein for the Zoom link.
DTEND:20250312T200000Z
DTSTAMP:20260412T193033Z
DTSTART:20250312T190000Z
GEO:37.431924;-122.1767
LOCATION:Beckman Center\, B200
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:PhD Dissertation Defense: Callan Monette
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_49040052925643
URL:https://events.stanford.edu/event/phd-dissertation-defense-callan-monet
 te
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR