Cells grown in three dimensional cultures show a higher level of differentiation, resembling more closely cells in living tissues than cells cultured on conventional 2D tissue culture plastic. The structures that can be cultured in this format include epithelial cysts and tubules – structures that do not form in 2D. From a biological viewpoint, they are therefore better for analyzing cell and organ function and dysfunction, forming a bridge between 2D in vitro models and ex-vivo/in vivo models. We use human and non-human 3D cell cultures to analyse the role of genes and pathways in epithelial  polarity, adhesion cell migration and invasion. One well characterized pathway that induces renal cell morphogenesis is the c-Met signaling pathway; exposure of cells to hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), the ligand for c-Met, induces tubulogenesis of renal epithelial cysts in 3D in vitro cultures.

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