Dr. Yoon is a professor in the Department of Anatomy at Pusan National University School of Medicine, Korea. Currently, he serves as the Director of the Immune Reconstitution Center at the Pusan National University Medical Research Institute. Additionally, he has held the position of President of the Korean Association of Anatomists. Dr. Yoon earned his doctorate in Medical Anatomy from Pusan National University, Korea, in 1993. He conducted research on immune cell biology as a Visiting Scientist at Washington University School of Medicine, USA. His current research interests focus on cell engineering for biomedical applications, the application of 3D cell culture technology for drug discovery and diagnostic tools, and the development of therapeutic strategies for targeted cancer therapy.

Topic title: 3D model of ovarian cancer progression to recapitulate cancer stem cell niche and chemoresistance for anti-cancer drug discovery

Abstract:

Recent attention has focused on the development of an effective three-dimensional (3D) cell culture system enabling the rapid enrichment of cancer stem cells (CSCs) that are resistant to therapies and serving as a useful in vitro tumor model that accurately reflects in vivo behaviors of cancer cells. Presently, an effective 3D in vitro human ovarian cancer model was developed using a marine collagen-based hydrogel. Advantages of the model include simplicity, efficiency, bioactivity, and low cost. Remarkably, human ovarian tumor cells grown in this hydrogel exhibited biochemical and physiological features, including (1) enhanced cell proliferation, migration and invasion, colony formation, and chemoresistance; (2) suppressed apoptosis with altered expression levels of apoptosis-regulating molecules; (3) upregulated expression of crucial multidrug resistance-related genes; (4) accentuated expression of key molecules associated with malignant progressions, such as epithelial-mesenchymal transition transcription factors, Notch, and pluripotency biomarkers; and (5) robust enrichment of CSCs. The findings indicate the potential of our 3D in vitro human ovarian cancer model as an in vitro research platform to study ovarian CSC biology and to screen novel therapies targeting ovarian cancers as well as CSCs.