CENTER FOR BIOENGINEERING

During the week of 19-23 August 2013, with Minisymposia in Ohrid dedicated to image analysis of circulating tumor cells in prostate cancer, the University of Information Science and Technology St Paul The Apostle initiated a Center for BioEngineering featuring biomedical research laboratories. The Biomedical Computer Vision Laboratory is focused on the computational analysis of microscopy images of cancer cells. The head of the lab and Founding Director of the center is Alex Matov. The BioInform... atics and Genomic Privacy Laboratory studies the privacy issues associated with DNA sequencing. The head of the lab and University President is Ninoslav Marina. Visit: bioengineering.uist.edu.mk/bcvl (biomedical computer vision lab) Video: Organoids derived from high-risk primary and micro metastasis prostate as well as distant metastasis colorectal tumors. These cultures, derived from resected patient tissues, were established, treated with chemotherapy drugs ex vivo and imaged by Alexandre Matov at the University of California, San Francisco. Each organoid is a hundred to several hundred micrometers in diameter and is assembled by dozens of thousands of individual patient cells from slow-proliferating, genetically heterogeneous, drug-naïve tumors or aggressive, recurrent disease cells emerging after hormonal and radiation therapies. Small molecules and genetic manipulations, which are not feasible in vivo, can be performed in organoids, making them a unique, physiologically relevant resource for functional interrogation of drug response. The organoid culture system presents us with a fantastic opportunity to develop living biobanks for screening of panels of drugs approved for clinical use as well as discovery of novel compounds, which will provide the foundations of precision medicine and personalized patient care for all. Visit: bioengineering.uist.edu.mk/bigl (bioinformatics & genomic privacy lab)More