Tuomas Tammela
Jacks Laboratory
Koch Institute at MIT

This image shows green cancer cells in a small piece from a mouse lung cancer growing in special tissue culture conditions. The piece also contains numerous normal cell types, such as connective tissue cells, immune cells and cells that make up blood vessels, which is collectively known as the tumor microenvironment. Developing tissue culture systems that incorporate components of the tumor microenvironment will lead to more accurate modeling of human cancer, which will speed up drug discovery.