Coaxial Alginate Hydrogels: From Self-Assembled 3D Cellular Constructs to Long-Term Storage.

Alginate as a versatile naturally occurring biomaterial has found widespread use in the biomedical field due to its unique features such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. The ability of its semipermeable hydrogels to provide a favourable microenvironment for clinically relevant cells made alginate encapsulation a leading technology for immunoisolation, 3D culture, cryopreservation as well as cell and drug delivery. The aim of this work is the evaluation of structural properties and swelling behaviour of the core-shell capsules for the encapsulation of multipotent stromal cells (MSCs), their 3D culture and cryopreservation using slow freezing.

Prostate cancer evolution from multilineage primary to single lineage metastases with implications for liquid biopsy.

The evolutionary progression from primary to metastatic prostate cancer is largely uncharted, and the implications for liquid biopsy are unexplored. We infer detailed reconstructions of tumor phylogenies in ten prostate cancer patients with fatal disease, and investigate them in conjunction with histopathology and tumor DNA extracted from blood and cerebrospinal fluid. Substantial evolution occurs within the prostate, resulting in branching into multiple spatially intermixed lineages.