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Abstract
Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAc) ranks among the top three most aggressive cancers in the United States and is projected to increase in incidence over the next few years. Standard-of-care (SoC) treatment for PDAc consists of a cocktail of harsh chemotherapies, which have improved overall survival by only a few percentage points—to a 5-year survival rate of 13%. This dismal prognosis is a result of its primarily late-stage diagnosis and lack of durable response to treatment, the latter of which is partially due to PDAc’s desmoplastic and immunosuppressive microenvironment. This dissertation will demonstrate the potential of both the novel KMCERT2 mouse model and 3D-bioprinting to improve our understanding of pancreatic cancer progression and treatment response, ultimately leading to more effective therapies for patients.