ACTRAP: A Conceptual Proposal for In Situ Discovery of Anticancer Natural Products

The discovery of anticancer natural products often fails to capture metabolites induced only under native environmental cues. This article presents a conceptual proposal—ACTRAP—for a field-deployable platform that integrates in situ cultivation of environmental microbiota with a hydrogel-embedded tumor-cell reporter for endpoint viability readouts. Unlike classical co-culture systems designed for incubators and plate readers, ACTRAP is envisioned as a sealed, passively operated stack that couples a cultivation array to a tumor-cell biosensor through semipermeable membranes, enabling functional triage prior to laboratory isolation. We do not report any prototype, experiments, or practical tests; no empirical data are presented. Instead, we (i) position the concept relative to benchtop co-culture platforms (Transwell inserts, BioMe microplates, Cerillo Duet) and to in situ cultivation devices (diffusion chambers, iChip/HFMC); (ii) detail the proposed device geometry, membrane stack, reporter biology, and endpoint assays; and (iii) outline a staged, forward-looking validation plan addressing viability, sensitivity, and field robustness. The intended purpose is to prioritize microcultures that may produce cytotoxic metabolites under environmental conditions, thereby guiding subsequent dereplication and characterization once prototypes are built and tested.