Researchers say there is a critical need for improved 3D cancer models to study tumor growth and progression in patients and test responses to new treatments. Researchers from the University of Nottingham, Queen Mary University of London, Monash University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University describe the creation of a multicellular 3D microenvironment that uses patient-derived cells to recreate the way tumor cells grow in pancreatic cancer and respond to chemotherapy drugs.