Rowan University 3D Prints Bone Cancer Models to Study a Tumor That Ignores Chemotherapy

Researchers at Rowan University are using a 3D printer to build living models of chondrosarcoma, a bone cancer that does not respond well to chemotherapy or radiation. The team deposits tumor cells and stem cells inside a soft hydrogel, creating a three-dimensional environment that mimics the tumor's natural neighborhood. Flat cell cultures cannot reproduce that setup.

Why This Tumor Is Different

Chondrosarcoma arises from abnormal cartilage growth. Its defining feature is a dense extracellular matrix rich in glycosaminoglycans and collagen. That matrix is poorly vascularized, so systemically delivered drugs have trouble reaching tumor cells in meaningful concentrations. Low oxygen levels inside the matrix also change how cells respond to treatment. Most chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells, and chondrosarcoma cells divide slowly. The practical result is that surgery remains the main treatment, and margins matter enormously.

What the Printer Adds

Conventional cell culture grows cells flat on plastic in a single layer. Every cell sits next to every other cell. There is no tissue architecture, no oxygen gradient, no migration path. The Rowan approach uses hydrogel samples roughly one square centimeter. A specialized 3D printer deposits cells within ringed channels inside the gel, placing tumor cells and stem cells in separate clusters at controlled distances.

That distance control is the whole point. By adjusting the gel's temperature, researchers can loosen its texture and allow cells to migrate. They want to see whether stem cells seek out tumor cells, which would confirm a form of cellular communication tied to cancer progression. The team plans to observe movement, metabolic activity, and gene expression over 30 days.

The Collaboration

Sophia Orbach, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, will examine RNA within individual cells to track how stem cell identity shifts over time. Susy Kohout, an associate professor of biomedical sciences, will lead analysis of the molecular events driving that shift. The hydrogel technique was originally developed by team member Vernengo to study cartilage repair. Kim saw the same tissue biology from a clinical angle and suggested applying it to chondrosarcoma.

What Comes Next

There is no treatment here and no clinical trial. Even if the hypothesis is confirmed, interrupting tumor-stem cell communication would require identifying specific signals, finding a way to block them, demonstrating the effect in animals, and then running safety studies in people. That sequence takes years. For now, the work is a targeted attempt to unblock a bottleneck in understanding a tumor that has resisted standard tools for decades.