Human skin organoids, a novel host for cancer grafts

Around 45.000 mice a year are used for oncology testing in Austria. In this project we propose to replace the use of mouse skin grafting by application of a new method, which is based on the generation of human skin by differentiating of embryonic stem cells into skin-organoids. We already succeeded in growing a single human stem cell into a complex human skin tissue composed of keratinocytes, melanocytes, fibroblasts, neurons and adipocytes. We propose that the human skin, cultured in the lab, will be ideal for testing of the behavior of malignant human skin tumor cells after grafting of those cells. We will then visualize tumor growth by live microscopy of tumor organoids and we will also apply traditional histologic tissue analysis. Our novel model represents a valuable tool for basic science in order to investigate mechanisms of melanoma progression, but it also serves translational science in order to identify better treatment options for melanoma patients. We hope that with this project we can reduce animal suffering, while at the same time leverage our knowledge on skin tumor growth.