bone metastasis

In the context of the multidisciplinary research project CancerSys - Multiscale modeling for personalized therapy of bone metastasis, financed by FCT and involving the institutions IDMEC, INESC-ID, IT (Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa), Hospital de Santa Maria and IMM, a dynamic computational model capable of representing the biochemical aspects of bone metastases growth and the effect of the therapies used in this disease.

Considerable attempts have been made to produce adequate matrices or scaffolds that mimic bone ECM for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In this context, several factors must be considered, such as the modification of biomaterial surfaces using growth factors, living bone cells or proteins, to guide cellular responses in bone remodeling, like osteoblast adhesion and long term functionality expressed as proliferation, synthesis of alkaline phosphatase and deposition of calcium containing mineral.