How Tumor-on-a-Chip Technology Is Transforming Cancer Treatment and Drug Testing

Update: 2025-12-13

Description

What if the tools we use to test cancer drugs don’t behave like human tumors at all?

That’s the question that pushed Ghazaleh Madani, CEO and co-founder of CanChips, to build one of the most compelling innovations in oncology today: tumor-on-a-chip platforms that replicate human tumor biology with unprecedented accuracy.

In this episode, we explore how microfluidics, 3D co-cultures, endothelial layers, and real-time biosensing combine to replace outdated 2D cultures and reduce reliance on animal models.

The result: faster, more predictive cancer drug testing — and a pathway toward truly personalized oncology.

Our sponsor:

🚀 Exclusive Black Friday offer – NordStellar x Startuprad.io. NordStellar, developed by the team behind NordVPN, gives startups and scaleups real-time insights into leaked credentials, darknet threats, and unprotected assets – before attackers can exploit them.

👉 Get 20% off with code blackfriday20 at nordstellar.com/startupradio.

🕒 Offer valid until December 10, 2025 – protect your business before your data is offered for sale on the darknet. NordStellar – Know what attackers know. Act first.

You’ll learn:

– Why 2D cultures and animal models fail

– How tumor-on-chip platforms replicate human tumor environments

– How patient-derived cells lead to 72-hour drug response predictions

– What this means for biotech founders, pharma teams, and investors

– How German startups are shaping deep-tech innovation in the DACH region

– What it takes to build and lead a cross-disciplinary biotech team

– Why founder visibility matters as much as scientific rigor

Whether you're building in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, this episode offers one of the clearest explanations of capital-efficient growth, B2B startup scaling, and long-term founder wealth creation.

Guest Spotlight

Ghazaleh Madani is a biotech founder whose mission began when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Her work at CanChips merges engineering, biology, and human urgency — delivering one of the most promising tumor-modeling systems in Europe.

If this episode helped you, follow the podcast and share it with a founder who needs this playbook.

Enjoy the show?

📖 Blog recap: https://www.startuprad.io/post/tumor-on-a-chip-explained-the-future-of-cancer-drug-testing

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JIow-O-AM50