Tumor Organoids Hold Promise for Personalizing Cancer Therapy

The three-dimensional cell cultures are still in the development phase, but researchers are excited about their use to predict patients’ responses to various treatment options.

Written byJef Akst

| 4 min read

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ABOVE: Organoids such as these ones made from healthy human colon cells could help researchers predict patient responses to drugs in vitro.
JARNO DROST

As researchers improve ways to quickly and cheaply sequence DNA, the concept of precision medicine is gaining a foothold in the medical community. When it comes to cancer, a disease that leaves its mark in a patient’s genome, sequencing tumor DNA to tailor treatment plans to individuals seems an obvious application of the technology. “The idea of precision medicine as in individualized treatment, I think that makes so much sense,” says Alice Soragni, a cancer biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine. “When you work with a few of these tumors, each and every one is a bit different.”

Over the past few years, the field of oncology has shifted in this direction. In 2017, the US Food and Drug ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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