Radioactive Substances Fight Cancer in the Mini-lab

Radioactivity can save lives. When neither chemotherapy or surgery nor radiation from the outside help against a tumor, modern medicine uses so-called radiopharmaceuticals. These radioactive drugs not only detect cancer cells, they also enable targeted radiation from the inside to destroy the tumor. However, before such substances become available for use in humans, extensive animal testing is currently required during their development. A joint project of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) is currently researching an alternative method to this. Artificial organ structures and tumors in chip format form the basis for this.