Thermo Fisher Scientific Gibco OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium Kit

Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced the Gibco OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium Kit, specifically developed for the expansion of patient-derived tumoroids, or cancer organoids, from multiple cancer indications.

While cancer remains a leading cause of death, hurdles remain in bringing new cancer therapies to patients, with up to 97% of drug candidates failing in clinical trials. More closely resembling donor tissue than traditional 2D cell models, patient-derived tumoroids — cultures of tumour cells derived from individual patients — hold promise in helping improve clinical trial success rates by enabling researchers to better model disease and predict patient response to therapeutics in vitro.

Use of tumoroids in cancer research has so far been limited due to challenging culture requirements and a lack of commercially available media systems. Thermo Fisher’s off-the-shelf, modular tumoroid culture medium kit is designed to make complex cancer models more accessible to researchers, thus helping to bring drug candidates to market faster.

The company is dedicated to supporting scientists as they elucidate tumoroid workflows and protocols. In addition to democratising this workflow through the OncoPro Tumoroid Media system, Tumoroid Assay Development Services support outsourced screening and characterisation. Users may also leverage seven OncoPro Tumoroid Cell Lines, representing four different cancer indications including colorectal, lung, endometrial and breast. To improve ease of use, the culture medium kit includes a scalable, automation-compatible suspension culture method.