WILMINGTON, DE — ChristianaCare has opened a first-of-its-kind organoid core inside a community cancer program, creating a new laboratory capable of growing patient-derived “mini tumors” to guide more precise and effective cancer treatments.
The organoid core, housed within the Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, uses three-dimensional tumor models grown from a patient’s own cells. These living cultures maintain the genetic and molecular traits of the original tumor, allowing researchers to test drug responses in near real time.
Organoid cores are rare in the United States, and ChristianaCare says it is the first to operate one in a community cancer center setting. The system offers a faster, more accurate tool for identifying which therapies are most likely to work for individual patients—an approach researchers describe as a major shift in translational medicine…