Oct. 13, 2025 — For third-year University of Florida medical student Ben Meyer, working with a multidisciplinary research team during his studies is an energizing opportunity.

Along with scientists and faculty from the College of Medicine and the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, Meyer is researching how to fight cancer by modeling tumors in their true shape to explore better methods of studying how tumors grow and respond to treatment.

Rather than growing cells on flat discs, which is known as the monolayer or cell line method, the team takes pieces of tumor and breaks them up to grow into 3D models.

Meyer said it’s interesting to work with team members from across campus who contribute ideas from their respective fields.

“Bioscientists are really focused on molecular interactions, proteins and genes,” he said. “The engineers are focused on, ‘How can we make this work?’ It’s about inventing a solution that lets different pieces fit together.”

Meyer became involved in the research as part of his master’s thesis at UF. He previously worked at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for four years and knew he wanted to continue his research endeavors in medical school.

While monolayered cell cultures have been used for cancer study for almost 80 years, the research is always evolving. The 2D cell line method has helped scientists learn a lot, but it falls short of the way tumors truly form within the body. Meyer’s team thought they could propose a new way of modeling them.

“Making a 3D model gives us a more representative picture,” he said. “All their fibroblasts, cancer cells, immune cells — everything that was in that little environment is what we try to capture. All those little pieces play a part in growth, therapy resistance and metastasis.”

The team started by cutting up tumors from their animal model into tiny pieces. Unsure if the idea would work, Meyer was prepared for disappointing results. After a month of waiting for the tumor samples to grow, the team added a chemical dye to their creation and peered into the microscope. It glowed green; the samples were alive.

To test whether they were true tumor cells, the team used a gene that makes a protein called luciferin — the same protein that lets fireflies shine. The theory was that if cancer cells were present, adding an enzyme would make them emit light. Using another specialized microscope, the team stood in a darkroom and held their breath. Then the screen lit up.

The team is currently developing the model using tumors from mice. If all goes well, they’ll start adapting it for study of human tumor tissues.

The 3D modeling technology is already in use at other research hospitals, Meyer said. But while UF’s team focuses on pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, other programs have focused on more aggressive types of cancer, like bone, lung and liver.

Ultimately, this method is poised to be a breakthrough in cancer research and how scientists understand tumor growth. As teams across UF and Florida work together on projects like this one, more personalized medicine becomes possible for patients across the world.

“When surgically removing a tumor, I’ve had that impulse thought of, ‘I wish I could test a drug on this and see what works,’” Meyer said. “That was our approach: figuring out if we could grow something that stayed as unique as a patient’s cancer, then screening for therapies that would work against it.”