OHSU Receives $9.2 Million NIH Funding to Develop Advanced Organs-on-Chips for Bone Cancer Research
核心洞察
Oregon Health & Science University secured over $9 million in NIH funding to develop advanced microphysiologic models that recreate how cancers grow, spread and respond to treatment within bone and bone-associated tissues.
Two new projects focus on osteosarcoma (搜索), a rare bone cancer (搜索) affecting children with unchanged survival rates for four decades, and prostate cancer (搜索) bone metastasis affecting over 80% of advanced patients.
The research utilizes organs-on-chips technology, transparent USB-sized devices containing living human cells that allow real-time observation of cancer behavior at single-cell resolution.
Oregon Health & Science University has received more than $9 million in National Institutes of Health funding to develop advanced microphysiologic models that recreate how cancers grow, spread and respond to treatment within bone and bone-associated tissues. The funding establishes OHSU as a leader in using engineered human tissue models to study bone cancers and cancers that metastasize to bone.
Revolutionary Organs-on-Chips Technology
The research relies on microphysiologic systems, transparent devices about the size of a USB stick that contain living human cells arranged to mimic real tissues, including bone, blood vessels and distant organs such as the lung. These systems allow researchers to observe cancer behavior in real time, at single-cell resolution, using human-derived cells.
"The NIH is prioritizing more human-relevant models," said Luiz Bertassoni, professor of oncological sciences, bioengineering and dentistry and director of the Knight Cancer Precision Biofabrication Hub. "These devices allow us to generate that complexity in the lab and get at important questions we cannot study in patients."
The approach addresses a longstanding challenge in cancer research, as traditional laboratory and animal models often fail to capture the complexity of how human cancers behave, especially when tumors spread to bone or distant organs.
Targeting Osteosarcoma Lung Metastasis
Dr. Alexander Davies, an assistant professor of oncological sciences and pediatrics in the OHSU School of Medicine, leads a $3.17 million project focusing on osteosarcoma (搜索), a rare bone cancer (搜索) that often affects children and adolescents. Survival rates for patients whose disease has spread to the lungs have remained largely unchanged for more than four decades.
Davies' team will use engineered bone tissue and ex vivo lung models, combined with advanced imaging and biosensors, to watch osteosarcoma (搜索) cells interact with bone and lung niches and respond to experimental therapies in real time.
"This is a rare disease that is very difficult to study using patient samples alone," Davies said. "Our models let us directly observe the metastasis — how tumor cells establish metastasis, communicate with their environment and respond to drugs — with a level of detail you simply can't achieve in humans."
MCL-1 Protein Targeting Shows Promise
The project builds on previous discoveries with collaborators at Nationwide Children's Hospital showing that osteosarcoma (搜索) lung metastases may be vulnerable to drugs targeting a protein called MCL-1, which helps cancer cells avoid dying. In lab and animal studies, blocking MCL-1 made it much harder for cancer cells to survive in the lungs. When MCL-1 blockers were combined with cyclophosphamide, a standard chemotherapy drug, lung tumors were sometimes completely eliminated.
Davies said the goal is to develop safer, more effective treatments that target both cancer cells and their supportive environment, paving the way for future clinical trials and better outcomes for people with osteosarcoma (搜索).
Prostate Cancer Bone Metastasis Research
Bertassoni leads a $2.5 million project focusing on how aggressive prostate cancers spread to bone. More than 80% of people with advanced prostate cancer (搜索) develop bone tumors, which can cause severe pain, broken bones, and other serious complications.
Using lab-grown bone tissues that include working blood vessels and nerves, his team will investigate how physical forces in blood vessels and signals from nerves help tumor cells lodge in bone and become more aggressive.
Advanced Bone-on-a-Chip System
The newly funded project has two main goals using Bertassoni's highly advanced "bone-on-a-chip" system. First, his team will study how the unique physical forces inside bone blood vessels help cancer cells escape into bone tissue and begin destroying it, closely examining how being squeezed affects cancer cells at the genetic level. Second, they will investigate how communication between nerves and cancer cells speeds up bone damage and tumor growth.
"Bone is not a passive target," Bertassoni said. "Its blood vessels, nerves and mechanical properties actively influence whether cancer cells stop, survive and thrive. These models allow us to isolate and study those factors one by one."
Building an Interdisciplinary Ecosystem
The three grants, totaling nearly $9.2 million including a previous $3.5 million NIH grant awarded to Bertassoni in 2025, reflect a deliberate investment by OHSU and the Knight Cancer Institute (搜索) in interdisciplinary science, bringing engineers, cancer biologists, imaging experts and clinicians together to address complex diseases.
"This isn't serendipity — it's an ecosystem we've been building," Bertassoni said. "These connections are enabling better science, stronger funding and, ultimately, better care for patients."
The technology demonstrates versatility across cancer types, with Bertassoni's previous NIH award supporting similar studies in head and neck cancers that erode bone, showcasing the platform's adaptability for various malignancies.