Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

12-2023

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Bioengineering

Degree Program

JB Speed School of Engineering

Committee Chair

Chen, Joseph

Committee Member

Frieboes, Hermann

Committee Member

Hawkins, Nick

Author's Keywords

Glioblastoma; heterogeneity; mechanics; ultrastructure

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly invasive, aggressive brain cancer that carries a median survival of 15 months. This poor prognosis is due, in part, to its resistance to standard therapeutic intervention. Recent studies have demonstrated that tumor heterogeneity plays a critical role in facilitation therapy resistance by mediating tumor adaptation through microenvironmental cues. Efforts to describe these microenvironmental differences may aid in the development of strategies to combat resistance. GBM can be separated into two distinct regions – a core and a rim, which are thought to drive specific aspects of tumor evolution. The core is proliferative as evidenced by the hypercellular, hypoxic, and necrotic regions while the rim is permissive to cell invasion and spread. These differences in tumor progression are regulated by the diverse biomolecular and biophysical signals in the core and rim, but the biophysical characteristics remain poorly described. Here, we investigate the mechanical and ultrastructural characteristic of the tumor ECM in patient-matched GBM core and rim tissue.

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